


Scarlet Like Glass

by pixlh3art



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Dungeons & Dragons - All Media Types, RWBY
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adventure & Romance, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blake is not a rogue, D&D AU, Eventual Smut, F/F, Minor Original Character(s), Plot, Ruby's a fighter tho lol, So much violence, Violence, Weiss is not a bladesinger, Yang is not a monk, and limited-use features etc, but i will preserve spell slots, but then oops freezerburn/ladybug, enemies may be altered for the sake of making the fight interesting, gonna play a tiny bit fast and loose with standard d&d rules for sake of Drama, i meant to write whiterose/bumbleby, other RWBY characters may appear but this will be LARGELY OCs besides the main 4, so uh. watch out for that, there also might be
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:28:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 19,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25920595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pixlh3art/pseuds/pixlh3art
Summary: Blake is a member of a port town's notorious thieves' guild.Weiss ran away from her noble home due to the accident of her birth.Ruby and Yang are just trying to do good wherever they can manage it.The four of them meet in a quirky little tavern on a rainy night, and from there, the adventure unfolds...In other words, team RWBY takes part in a completely original campaign for 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons.
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee/Yang Xiao Long
Comments: 46
Kudos: 69





	1. Pino's Tavern (Blake)

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, folks! Red here!  
> Look at me, writing a second RWBY fic! This one is a bit of random inspiration that I got - I've been hyperfixating on D&D lately and randomly realized that no one can stop me from putting Team RWBY through my own, totally original D&D campaign, which was known as The Scarlet Shattering! It ran from level 3 to around level 15 or 16 (I don't exactly remember), and it was a *very* high-powered campaign. Expect powerful magical items and effects, balanced out by powerful foes with unique upgrades and alterations.  
> As the tags suggest, because I felt like changing things up and breaking from the obvious classes: Blake is not a rogue (even though she *really* looks like a rogue), Yang is not a monk (and does not even have any monk levels), and Weiss is not a Bladesinger - in fact she has no weapon proficiencies at all. Ruby, however, *is* a Battle Master because I adore Battle Master and it fits her far too perfectly.  
> Lastly, because this is an original campaign setting that I designed, almost all of the various NPCs, friendly and otherwise, will be original characters, because they already exist and already tie into this story in their own right. We may hear of and even see other RWBY characters (Summer, Winter, Jacques, etc.) but almost entirely in their relation to the main squad's backstories, and not in the overarching as a whole. So if you're expecting lich!Salem to be the final boss, that's not exactly where this story is headed. Just a heads-up that I hope will make sense!
> 
> With all of that out of the way, please enjoy Scarlet Like Glass...
> 
> -R

Pino’s Tavern was certainly louder than usual today.

Blake leaned against the far wall, watching with slight amusement as the white-haired half-elven woman yelled in the barkeep’s face.

“I don’t _care!”_ she said. “I _refuse_ to be served by that... that _thing!”_

“Come on, ma’am, Pino can’t hurt nobody,” he said, his arms crossed in front of his chest. “He doesn’t even have arms.”

“You _seriously_ just serve people drinks on a _walking mushroom?”_

The being in question, a stout creature only about two feet tall, stood next to the man in silence. It was awkwardly “looking” between the two of them, uncertain - though it lacked the eyes to do so.

The tavern was called “Pino’s” to pay homage to the walking, talking, red-capped mushroom that acted as its server. He was a charming little gimmick, and that brought in customers, as there weren’t too many practitioners of magic this far south. But Blake knew the real story - the barkeep Finnan Goodbarrel, and his wife, Bree, the innkeeper upstairs, had never managed to have children. Bree, though, had grown up with the druids much farther north before settling here in Brinewater - gods only knew _why._ Either way, she’d brought little Pino to life with some druidic magic, and the couple had treated him like a son ever since.

But the white-haired half-elf yelling at him _definitely_ didn’t know that part.

“I can’t believe this place. I _knew_ that this town was a shithole, but by the _gods_ -”

“Lady, if you don’t want a drink, you can just leave. I have other patrons.”

She rolled her eyes, looking to the other patrons before settling on a long-haired blonde and a short-haired brunette across from her at a booth. Both women carried _massive_ weapons at their backs - the blonde had a gigantic two-handed greataxe and the brunette had some sort of polearm that Blake didn’t recognize - but the white-haired half-elf wasn’t intimidated by that, or by either girl’s rippling muscles. Curiously, the brunette wore half plate armor, but the blonde was clad in a simple, sleeveless tunic.

“Do _you_ honestly take your drinks from such a... a _creature?”_ she asked of them.

The blonde shrugged. “Yeah. Pino’s cool.” She gave him a little wave.

True to Finnan’s word, Pino did not have arms to wave back with, but he dipped his tiny knees in a sort of respectful bow towards her in thanks.

The white-haired half-elf, clearly dissatisfied with this answer, threw her hands up with a scoff.

“I have _truly_ reached this continent’s dirty, wretched asshole.” She turned to leave, but was interrupted by the entrance of a man in a dark cloak. He pulled his hood back once inside from the rain, shaking off with relief. The white-haired half-elf, noticing that he’d just come in from a torrential downpour, had apparently decided to wait before her dramatic, angry exit. Instead she sulked at a tall corner table with no drink.

“Hey, Caleb.” Blake said, as he sat down next to her. “Got a job?”

“Actually, it’s probably different from what you’re used to,” he said. “The Lady wants somebody to clear out the Undercity, so I’m not exactly searching for your usual skillset.”

Blake raised an eyebrow. “Why? Is there gold in there or something?”

Caleb gave her a look before gratefully accepting his usual ale from Finnan. He took a long pull before answering. 

“Come on, Blake, do you think she tells _me_ what she's up to? But yeah, I figure it’s gold - what else motivates her to do anything?”

Blake thought for a moment. “Platinum.”

Caleb chuckled. “You’ve got me there.”

Blake slid into the bar next to him, dropping some copper on the counter to for another mug of ale. “So how’s the job pay?”

He gave her another look. “Blake, are you _seriously_ asking? You’re good, but it’s hard to hide from the undead - and they usually don’t have much worth stealing.”

Blake shrugged. “You don’t know. I might be amazing at slaying zombies.”

He scoffed. “Yeah, right.” He took another pull of his ale, reaching into a small coin purse to pay for it now that it was already half-empty. “If you _must_ know, she’s paying fifty.”

Blake raised a doubtful eyebrow. “Seriously? Edna’s _stingy,_ but there’s no way that anyone would willingly head under town, knee-deep in shit and seawater, fighting gods know what, for _fifty silver -”_

“Gold, actually.”

Blake’s jaw fell open. “Fifty _gold?”_

He nodded. _“Per_ _person.”_

“Holy shit.” Blake said. “Where do I sign up?”

Caleb gave her a look, speaking under his breath now. “Blake, come on - you _know_ it’s a suicide mission. That’s why the price is so high - you only get the fifty gold if you _survive.”_

“Did somebody say ‘fifty gold?’”

Caleb looked over his left shoulder to find the smirking blond woman, from the booth behind them. Now that she was standing up, Blake realized how absurdly tall she was - even with the raised stools that she and Caleb sat in, the woman easily had eight inches on him.

“I might’ve mentioned a way for someone to make fifty gold pieces in one job,” Caleb said, turning in his stool. “Depends - how good are you with that axe?”

The blonde smirked again, crossing her _ridiculously_ muscular arms in front of her chest. _“Very.”_

Caleb returned her smile. “Then how would you like to kill a whole bunch of zombies?”

The blonde hummed, looking over her shoulder at the woman she’d been sitting with, who was actually still seated. “I dunno, Rubes - what do you think?”

“Could be fun,” she said, putting down her tankard. She met Caleb’s eyes. Blake noticed that hers were a striking silver - she’d never seen a human with eyes like that. “What’s the catch?”

Caleb frowned. “Catch? There’s no catch.”

“You’re not offering fifty gold pieces for a simple exterminator’s job,” Ruby stated. “So what’s the catch?”

“And why _are_ there zombies in a town like this, anyways?”

They all turned to find the white-haired half-elf, now standing beside them with her arms crossed. “This town’s a shithole, but it’s not crawling with the undead. How did a coastal merchant’s town end up with a _zombie_ _problem?”_

Caleb looked at Blake for assistance, but all he found was the same question in _her_ eyes, too. By now, the brunette had stood up, standing next to the blonde. Blake noticed little flecks of red in her hair.

“All right,” Caleb said, holding his hands up defensively. “Listen, I’m just the middleman, I don’t get details. But _apparently,_ here in Brinewater, we got a visit from two rather _interesting_ women a month or so back. After that, the Undercity’s been crawling with zombies. Wasn’t a problem before, ‘cuz it was all sealed off anyways, but now the Lady’s apparently gotten fed up with them and wants ‘em dead. She’s willing to pay a ton for it.”

“What ‘lady?’” Asked the white-haired woman.

“And who were the two women?” said the brunette.

“You must be new here,” he said to the white-haired woman, who scoffed. He turned to the brunette. “As for _you,_ I dunno, I wasn’t in town. They apparently came by boat in the late evening, one in red, the other in white.”

“Twins?” the blonde asked.

“Nah, they looked nothing alike. Why?”

“No reason.”

He rolled his eyes. _“Right._ Anyways, they dock here, stay for a night, leave by morning, and about a week later some poor thief looking for a quicker route through the city nearly gets mauled to death by a zombie. It’s been boarded up since.”

“So, just to confirm what you’re saying,” the brunette said, breaking her silence ever since he had started fully explaining. “You get two weird visitors about a month ago, by boat, and _then_ you have a zombie problem. But your ‘lady’ only cares now?”

Caleb finished off his ale. “That’s right.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Fifty gold? Each?”

He nodded slowly. “Yeah. Each.”

The brunette and the blonde met each others’ eyes, having a silent conversation.

“All right, we’re in,” she said after a moment.

“Fantastic,” Caleb said, clapping his hands together.

“You coming, Ice Queen?” The blonde asked.

The white-haired woman raised an eyebrow, her arms crossed in defiance. “Did you just call me ‘Ice Queen,’ you oaf?”

“Yeah,” the blonde said, completely unimpressed by the white-haired woman’s threatening tone. “You coming?” She turned to Blake. “And what about you, Tall, Dark, and Edgy?”

Blake just raised an eyebrow. “Edgy?”

The blonde laughed. “I mean... _look_ at you! There are colors _besides_ black that you can -”

“Yang,” the brunette said, stopping her. “If they’re gonna be working with us on this, maybe don’t antagonize them?”

The blonde, ‘Yang,’ shrugged. “No offense, but they don’t exactly _look_ like fighters.”

The white-haired woman rolled her eyes with annoyance. “Oh, _trust_ me, I can fight.”

The brunette nodded, pointing a casual hand at Blake. “Also, she’s got a shortsword and about four daggers on her.”

Blake blinked in surprise. _All_ of her weapons were concealed, and carefully so, and yet this woman had just accurately noticed them - even the dagger in her _boot._

“Damn,” Caleb said, letting out a low whistle. He smirked at Blake. “She’s got you all figured out, kitty cat.”

Blake rolled her eyes, keeping her cool. “I _highly_ doubt that.”

The brunette just shrugged. “I like to think I’m observant.” She jerked a thumb over at the white-haired woman. “That’s how I know Princess here is a mage, too. So maybe don’t piss her off, Yang?”

Yang raised an eyebrow. “A mage, huh? Interesting. Maybe she _won’t_ die the second we start fighting.” She went to take a sip from the ale that she’d left on the table, but the white-haired woman made an arcane gesture, and the liquid didn’t move. They all watched as slowly and surely, the remaining ale - now a totally solid block of ice - slid out of the cup and fell on the ground between them with a soft _splat._

“Don’t call me ‘Princess,’” she said. She was glaring at Yang, despite the fact that the brunette had said it.

“What’s your name, then?” The brunette asked. She extended a hand, jerking a thumb to the massive axe-wielding woman beside her. “I’m Ruby. This oaf with an axe here is my sister, Yang.”

Yang made a face at the phrase ‘oaf with an axe,’ but Blake raised an eyebrow.

 _“You two_ are sisters?”

Ruby, the brunette, was just shy of six feet tall. She was built, but more lithe and toned than definitively muscular. She wore what Blake figured was half plate armor, and a long, hooded red cloak that hung to about her thighs. She had short brown hair with a few red highlights in it, and those piercing silver eyes that she’d noticed earlier.

Yang, on the other hand, was about six and a _half_ feet tall, and wore just a sleeveless brown tunic that left her massive, rippling biceps exposed. The axe on her back peeked out through her impressive mane of blond hair, her facial features were a bit harder and more defined than Ruby’s. Also, unlike her sister, her eyes were a soft, comforting lilac.

All in all, they looked absolutely nothing alike.

“It’s a long story,” Ruby said. Her hand was still extended.

The white-haired woman shrugged, taking it. “Weiss.”

“How about you, ‘kitty cat?’” Yang asked, a teasing smile on her face.

Blake’s tail flicked back and forth with annoyance. She had _begrudgingly_ let Caleb call her that after their years of working together, but she’d held him at knifepoint at least twice to assure that he didn’t get _too_ friendly about it.

“I’m Blake,” she said, arms crossed. 

Yang nodded. “So, you coming along?”

Blake met Caleb’s eyes. They were less worried than they had been at first - if nothing else, he was confident that Blake would be able to escape and survive, even if the other three died - but he clearly still didn’t like it.

Well, too bad for him. She could _really_ use fifty gold pieces.

“Yeah, I’m in.”

* * *

“This is as far as I’m taking you!” Caleb shouted over the rain. He’d led them into an abandoned building on the east side of town, which was basically just a concrete rectangle with a wooden ladder in the center of the floor. “Down there is Brinewater’s Undercity - we want you to _completely_ clean the place out, got it?”

“Understood,” Ruby said. “Where do we meet you when we’re done?”

“I’ll be at the tavern tomorrow,” he said. He gave a thumbs-up. “Good luck!”

Weiss stared down the ladder, which was coated in darkness. The wood was _also_ worryingly rotted.

“So,” she said, looking up at the three of them. “Who wants to -”

 _“BANZAI!”_ Yang shouted, immediately leaping feet-first into the hole, not even bothering with the rungs of the ladder. This made Weiss’ hand leave a small red mark on her forehead, and Ruby rolled her eyes good-naturedly. 

“Can you two see in the dark?” Ruby asked. “Yang can’t.”

“I can,” Blake and Yang said in unison, looking at one another in surprise when they did.

“Great,” Ruby laughed. She nodded to Blake. “I can’t see in the dark either, but I can make a bit of light - Yang and I will stick together. You look like the type to scout ahead, and that’s fine if you can see in the dark, just make sure you can still call if there’s trouble.”

Weiss crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow. “Who made you the leader here?”

Ruby got about halfway past the floor before replying, the metallic plates of her armor making little _clank_ sounds as she climbed. “I’m used to coordinating fights. Also, I’m the only one Yang listens to.” She met Blake’s eyes. “Do you have a problem with that?”

“I don’t care,” Blake said with a shrug.

Ruby turned the same question to Weiss, only using her eyes. Weiss stared her down for a moment, and capitulated. “Fine. As long as you and that oaf are standing in front of me.”

Ruby smirked. “Oh, trust me - whenever we see these zombies, Yang will be right in their faces.”

She put a hand on her weapon, but didn’t draw it - Blake watched a tiny bit of white magical particles run down her arm and pool in the weapon’s hilt, making it glow with a somewhat bright light. Ruby then started to climb down, illuminating the area around her.

“After you,” Blake said, gesturing to the ladder.

Weiss rolled her eyes. “I can’t wait to pick all the splinters out of my hands...”

Once she was out of earshot, Blake’s eyes flicked back to Caleb. He’d been standing there the whole time, but he had a tendency to fade into the background when he wasn’t someone’s primary focus.

“Such a merry band you are,” he said.

“I don’t hate them,” Blake said with a shrug. “Not yet, anyways.”

He chuckled. “Ah, a ringing endorsement indeed.” His eyes softened for a moment as they stared into her own. “Blake?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t die.”

She smirked. “Careful, Caleb - it _almost_ sounded like you were worried about me.”

He rolled his eyes. “Me? Never. I just don’t wanna find a new infiltration expert to hire for Edna’s jobs.”

Blake laughed. “If things go south, I’ll just let ‘em die and run back here, tail between my legs.” She let it flick back and forth to emphasize the point.

He nodded with a smile. “Truly, the thief’s way. Good luck, Blake.”

They shared one final wave, and then he threw his cloak up over his head, running out into the rain.

Blake made her way to the bottom of the ladder without incident, though she noticed that the wood didn’t just get more rotted on the way down - it also became _soggy,_ as if it had been drenched in water until somewhat recently. The final three or so rungs were slick with what felt like moss, and once she put her feet down on the ground, she noticed that the smell of sea salt was about ten times thicker down here than it was outside, even though the docks were barely a hundred yards south of this building.

“All righty,” Ruby said, drawing her weapon. Yang also had her axe in hand, though she held it with a relaxed grip. Ruby gave them a cheeky little smile. “It’s an honor to be delving this dungeon with you three.”

Weiss rolled her eyes, beginning to walk past them in the somewhat narrow stone corridor. The walls and especially the corners of the floor also had that sort of moss-like growth on them. “Whatever. All I want is to burn some zombies and get my fifty gold.”

“That’s the spirit!” Yang whooped, walking alongside her. She scoffed, but said nothing. They only really had the space to walk together in twos, so that apparently put Weiss and Yang at the front and Ruby and Blake right behind them. The long corridor stretched out before them, no obvious bends or turns yet. The ladder had been on the far east side of town, and the corridor now only led west, so it appeared that they were crossing all of Brinewater, just a few layers of dirt below its inhabitants’ feet.

“So, how do you two fight?” Ruby asked. “Yang and I are mostly up-close-and-personal types. Weiss, I assume you’re different.”

Weiss snorted. “Absolutely. I’m not _exactly_ in the mood for this dress to be further ruined by some undead _creature_ clawing at it.”

Blake really took in Weiss’ appearance for the first time, now that she was staring at the back of her head. Like Yang, Weiss also didn’t wear armor, instead opting for a mostly-white dress that flared out at her hips, reaching her knees. It looked like something that a noble would wear, if that noble had _also_ decided to drag their clothing behind them through the dirt on horseback for several miles.

Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration - the dress was _worn,_ certainly. There were a few tatters, and Blake could tell that it had been mended in places. The color had also begun to fade from a stark eggshell to more of a very very bright grey. Weiss also wore a sturdy pair of brown boots, which somewhat humorously contrasted with the dress, considering that they were all form over function.

Most interestingly, though, was the leather-bound tome that was strapped to the woman’s belt, resting against her lower back. It was nearly pristine, and also had its _own_ belt, keeping it shut.

Weiss looked as though she’d run away from a castle in the middle of a ball, and hadn’t had the chance to change her clothes since.

“How about you, Blake?” Ruby asked, pulling her out of her thoughts. “Anything we should know when it comes to your fighting style?”

Blake shrugged. “I get in close, but not usually for long. I prefer to stay quiet if I can. I also know a bit of magic.”

Weiss looked over her shoulder - clearly intrigued with Blake for the very first time. “What sort of magic?”

Blake shrugged again. “I wouldn’t call myself a total mage or anything - I’ve just got a few tricks, most of which don’t work on zombies, because they’re too stupid. But I’m usually good at getting into places I don’t belong. I’ve also got a bit of healing.”

“Same here,” Ruby said. “It’s _really_ not a lot, though.”

Blake nodded. “Oh, and don’t freak out if there’s two of me.”

 _That_ made Weiss raise an eyebrow, but she said nothing more.

“Weiss?” Ruby asked. “What sort of magic do _you_ do? I could tell you’re a mage, but not much else.”

“I’m fairly skilled with a significant amount of the arcane - studied it for years. But my specialty lies in evocation spells.”

They all looked at her.

Weiss sighed. “Fire. Ice. Lightning. ‘Big hurty spell go boom.’ Does that spell it out for you?”

“Got it,” Ruby said. “We’ll try and stay out of your way.”

“Don’t worry about that - I have impeccable aim and control.”

“Right,” Yang said, as if she’d believe that when she saw it.

“What about you two?” Blake asked.

“I assume that they both use their large weapons to slice up the creatures we’ll be fighting,” Weiss said dryly. “How complex can that be?”

“More than you’d think,” Yang said. “For example, if we’re fighting something and I put my axe away, don’t get close to me.”

Blake perked up at that. Why would Yang put her axe _away_ in a fight? Wouldn’t that leave her without a weapon?

“What?” Weiss asked. “Why?”

Yang shrugged. “You’ll see.”

Weiss rolled her eyes. “Well, I don’t exactly plan to be in the middle of the fray, regardless.”

“What about you, Ruby?” Blake asked.

She made a noncommittal gesture. “Basically what Weiss said. I use my big scythe and I cut things in half with it. That’s pretty much the whole story.”

“That’s it?” Blake asked, dubious.

“That’s it,” Ruby said. “I’m a simple girl with simple pleasures.”

Blake still raised an eyebrow, but she left Ruby alone with it. She was pretty good at reading people - based on her facial expressions and her casual demeanor, it seemed like there was a bit more to the story. But as far as she could tell, it wasn’t being withheld maliciously, it seemed like there was just information that Ruby didn’t deem relevant enough to mention. 

And _that_ was certainly fair. Blake hadn’t told everyone everything, either.

“I have a question,” Weiss said, jerking a thumb towards Ruby’s still-glowing weapon. “Aren’t you a practitioner of magic, too? I recognize that spell you’re casting.”

“I wouldn’t really say that,” Ruby said. “I don’t actually _know_ any magic - I’ve just always been able to do this since I was little. I can also heal one person, once, for a tiny little amount. That’s it.”

Weiss narrowed her eyes. “You’re not an elf, though. And you’re _certainly_ not a Tiefling. Where does that magic come from?”

Blake raised an eyebrow. “Why would she be an elf? What does that have to do with it?”

Weiss sighed. “Elves are all born with at least a bit of inherent arcane abilities. Some can conjure a weak phantom hand, some can do little harmless magical tricks, and _some_ can make an object shed bright light.” She looked at Ruby. “But I’ve never heard of the healing thing.”

Ruby shrugged. “You know more than me.”

 _“You’re_ an elf, though. Right, Weiss?” Yang asked.

Weiss sighed. “Half. On my mother’s side.”

Ruby raised an eyebrow. “Only half?”

Weiss nodded. “I’d be taller, and my ears would be longer - and I would also be _much_ farther away from here right now.”

Deciding to leave that alone, Yang turned around, walking backwards. “How about you, Blake? I’ve never met someone like you before.”

Blake sighed. Someone was going to have to have brought it up eventually.

“Ever heard of a Tabaxi?” she asked.

Yang and Ruby shook their heads.

“They’re catlike humanoids,” Weiss explained. “They’re from all over, but they’re rare. I hear they’re fast, and good climbers - but I’ve never met one myself.”

Yang raised an eyebrow. “You’re one of those?”

“No,” Weiss said instantly. “She’d have fur all over her body.”

Blake sighed again. It wasn’t exactly thrilling to be _discussed_ like this, though it seems that Ruby had endured it without complaint, and from what she could tell, Weiss wasn’t speaking to offend. She just seemed to use clinical language in circumstances like this - especially from how she’d described her own heritage.

“She’s right,” Blake said. “I’m only _half_ Tabaxi. One of my parents was human.”

“Which one?” Ruby asked.

Blake shrugged. “Never met them.”

“Hmm,” Weiss said, fascinated. “I’ve met other half-elves, I’ve met a half-orc, but I’ve never met a half-Tabaxi.”

Blake let out a grin. “I’m one of a kind.”

“That’s pretty great,” Yang laughed, looking to Ruby. “Look at us - delving into a dungeon to kill some zombies with half a cat and half an elf. Brilliant.”

Ruby cracked a grin. “We’ve done dumber things.”

“How about you two?” Weiss asked.

“I’m human,” they both said in unison.

Blake’s second pair of ears perked up. Ruby was _lying._

Even more interestingly, Yang _wasn’t._

She allowed herself a tiny, silent laugh. A complicated family situation, indeed.

  
  


* * *

The group stayed mostly silent for the five or so minutes left as they finished crossing the town from underneath it. They’d had to take a relatively slow pace in the cramped cavern, especially considering how wet and slick the floors were. They probably could have made the same trip aboveground in half the time, even with the foot traffic.

Still, though, they’d made it to a spiral staircase.

“Looks like we’ve got to go single-file,” Ruby said. 

Yang nodded, going first. Ruby walked right behind her, and Weiss gestured for Blake to follow.

“Like I said, I don’t really _do_ up close and personal,” she explained. “I’ll stay back here.”

“Blake, can you see past me?” Ruby asked.

“Yeah.” Blake said. “Why?”

“I can see some torchlight from the level below, so I’m gonna kill my spell - I figure that it’ll be a dead giveaway once we’re _really_ down there, and I like the element of surprise.”

“Yeah, right,” Yang scoffed. “No offense, Rubes, but even a braindead zombie would hear your clanking ass approaching from a mile off.”

She _did_ have a point - Ruby’s armor made a fair amount of noise while she walked.

Ruby sighed. “Weiss? Can _you_ be stealthy?”

She shrugged. “I can, until I’m ready to kill something. Fire isn’t exactly quiet.”

“And Blake, I assume...”

“Yeah,” she said. “It’s kinda my specialty.”

“Right,” Ruby sighed again. “Okay, maybe you three head down and I’ll just come running when I hear noise...”

“Hang on a sec,” Blake said, facing Ruby, her hand outstretched.

Ruby raised an eyebrow as Blake pressed her palm into Ruby’s breastplate - she was intrigued, but she wasn’t against the contact.

Blake closed her eyes and her hand briefly glowed purple, making Ruby’s body do the same, though more subtly. The glow faded quickly, but her armor quieted down a significant amount.

“There,” Blake said. “Let me know if you feel it run out, and I can refresh it.”

Ruby just nodded her appreciation. “Okay, then. Here we go.”

  
  


They descended the stone steps in silence - it was a spiral staircase, and a tight one, so they had to walk single-file. Yang stayed on point, with Ruby behind her, Blake after, and Weiss in the back. Yang’s steps became more cautious as they approached the bottom. Ruby’s weapon stopped glowing, though she kept it in her hands, still.

It was a curious thing - Blake had assumed it was a polearm, which _was_ true - it was deliberately designed with reach in mind, the handle being nearly two feet _longer_ than Yang’s greataxe. What was interesting, though, was that there wasn’t an obvious blade or anything. It was just a large, bulky-looking bundle of red steel, laid across several inches of the end of the haft. Maybe it was a bludgeoning weapon? But if _that_ was the case, it was the most inefficient bludgeoning weapon she’d ever seen - based on Ruby’s grip, the far end was remarkably heavy, to the point where the bottom foot and a half or so of the handle was just an awkward waste, because Ruby wouldn’t have _nearly_ enough leverage to properly hold it all the way down there.

Suddenly, Blake _sincerely_ hoped that the three of them wouldn’t all die before this was over. 

She wanted to learn more about Ruby.

They made it to the bottom of the staircase, Yang sidling against the wall to let them all in. She and Ruby stood against the right side, with Blake and Weiss on the left, the door to the staircase between them.

The space seemed to be some kind of mess hall, maybe a dining room - a series of _old_ wooden tables were spaced evenly along the ground in a set of four, though the one in the far right corner had fallen halfway apart, missing two legs that were on the same side. The others were intact, if in _woeful_ disrepair - like the ladder on the way in, they were nearly covered in the same mossy substance that Blake had observed earlier. If she didn’t know any better, she would think that this place had been _completely_ underwater for several years until this point.

That didn’t _really_ bother her, though.

No - what concerned her most were the lit torches on the walls.

There were six fleshy, moss-covered bodies in the room, sitting lifelessly at the tables. Two small piles of bones sat in heaps at the far end, on either side of the door. To the casual observer, they would all _look_ dead, worthless.

But Blake knew better - the corpses may not _all_ be undead, certainly, but two or three were moving _ever_ so slightly with putrid, undead breaths. The bone piles were utterly motionless, but their placement was _far_ too purposeful to just be where two random people had died. Even _if_ they both had been standing there as guards the exact moment they’d died, they wouldn’t have both slumped backwards against the wall - that was way too improbable.

Plus, guardsmen generally didn’t carry bows and arrows in an indoor space, but there was a creaky old shortbow next to each pile, still strung.

Ruby met each of their eyes in turn. She pointed to herself, then to a zombie who was sitting relatively upright at a table, its eyes dark. Blake nodded, pointing to herself, and then to both bone piles. She drew her sword, and one of her daggers. Weiss murmured something under her breath, a perfectly condensed ball of fire appearing at her fingertip. She gestured to another zombie at a table.

Yang cracked her neck. It was still loud enough for Blake to hear, but she doubted that any of their foes had four ears, like she did. The fact that Yang didn’t call out a target for herself made clear that she would handle the rest - a hypothesis further supported by the fact that she calmly moved towards the dead center of the room.

She was making herself a target for them the moment they’d wake up.

On _purpose._

 _She’s either the bravest woman I’ve ever met, or the dumbest,_ Blake thought. _And I don’t think there is a person who’s that brave._

Ruby walked forward, her clanking soft but still at least a little bit noticeable. Blake moved to follow her, deadly silent. They split off, each heading to their separate targets. Yang just waited, apparently waiting for her enemies to come to her.

Blake made her way in-between her targets with no issue, though Ruby’s soft clanking finally made the zombie she was creeping up behind wake up, and creakily turn its head in confusion. As if linked together, the other bodies in the room immediately began to move as well - sure enough, both piles of bones next to Blake started to rattle.

“Shit,” Ruby muttered. _“NOW!”_

And just like that, all hell broke loose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading so far! Let me know what you think of this little AU down below.  
> Bye for now!
> 
> -R


	2. All Hell Breaks Loose (Yang)

_“NOW!”_ Ruby shouted. 

Yang heard the familiar sound of her younger sister’s crazy weapon unfolding, turning from what looked like a hunk of metal on a stick to a long, bladed scythe. She’d taken inspiration from the farming implement, apparently, but the blacksmith back home hadn’t been able to make her one that was an appropriate size for actually fighting without making it massively wide and impractical to carry. Three years later, he and Ruby had worked together to make that weird, one-of-a-kind folding and unfolding weapon, and while Yang had no idea how it worked or why she was so insistent upon using it over a more low-maintenance blade, she had to admit one thing:

It sure got the job done.

With a loud tearing sound, Ruby wrapped the scythe around the torso of the zombie she’d been stalking, pulling her weapon towards herself, brutally reaping the hapless undead creature into two.

Yang casually leaned to her left as Weiss threw a small mote of fire just over her shoulder, which immediately crashed into the side of a zombie’s skull, setting it alight. The thing screeched, but stayed up for the moment.

Blake became a whirl of motion, her shortsword embedding itself in the bony chest of one skeleton (not too effectively, Yang noted) and her dagger slashing across the other one’s sternum.

Yang herself, though?

She didn’t move.

She _waited._

Two other zombies stood up from their prone positions on the floor, desperately scraping for her. As she’d intended, standing at the center of the room had drawn their ire, so pretty much all of them had gone for her, instead of anyone else.

It was nice to be the center of attention.

The first zombie made its way towards her, its stench hitting her nostrils just as it uselessly flailed an undead arm against her back. The blow didn’t even really harm her, but all the same, Yang felt a primal fury inside of her wake up, ever so slightly. She liked to picture her anger as an avatar wreathed in flame, sitting and idly meditating in a shallow cave.

Right now, the avatar had one eye open.

“Hello, boys,” Yang said with a flirty smirk as the other creature approached her. It raised its arm, which then fell to the floor when she separated it from the zombie’s body with her axe. The creature stumbled, nearly falling back from the sheer force of the blow. It then caked over in ice for a moment, seemingly out of nowhere.

“Must be the Ice Queen,” Yang muttered, sidestepping a second blow from the creature behind her. She raked her axe across its chest, leaving a massive, fleshy scar running up its entire torso. If it wasn’t so darn bony, the thing would be in two pieces from the waist up.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Ruby’s zombie was still up, its upper body hanging onto its lower body by strings as it desperately swung at her. A limb smacked against her metallic armor, and another zombie made it to its feet to strike her. Yang _almost_ felt worried before she whirled, cutting the first zombie completely in two, her follow-through so strong that it cleaved into the one next to it, damaging two creatures with the same attack.

She grinned, looking back to the half-frozen zombie, its eyes still faintly glowing. She put the poor thing out of its misery by splitting its skull in half with her axe.

An arrow slammed into her chest, sticking out of it. With a frustrated growl, Yang’s head whipped up to see one of the skeletons that Blake had been fighting - she was currently occupied with the other, so this one had apparently had the audacity to _shoot_ her with its newfound free time.

Ruby called out.

“Yang, behind you!”

Trusting her instincts and her sister’s directions, Yang didn’t even look - she just swung her axe in an upward arc, turning around as she did so. Sure enough, it momentarily buried itself in the creature’s crotch before neatly splitting it all the way in half. She gave Ruby a thumbs-up, which she didn’t see because she ducked under the zombie’s swing.

Another arrow found itself in her back. This one also didn’t _really_ hurt, but it was getting damn annoying.

“Blake, I thought you had those things handled,” Yang called.

A frustrated laugh reached her ears. “They’re a bit tougher than they -” its sword _clanged_ against her own “- look!”

Yang sighed, removing the arrow in her chest, snapping it in half before dropping it.

“You want something done right…”

She turned back around to her bony attacker, who was now flanked by a fellow zombie. It looked like it was having a hard time deciding whether to attack her, or go for Blake, who was still fighting that skeleton she’d been dueling earlier. Yang was at least happy to see that it was now missing an arm and about half its ribs, so at least she’d been making good progress. Her skeleton, the zombie between them, and the one who kept _shooting_ at her were all in a neat little line.

Yang cracked her neck.

“I’ve got it!” Came a voice from behind her.

Yang looked over her shoulder to see Weiss running up, her spellbook idly floating beside her for a moment as she pressed her hands together, holding them up to her mouth. Yang barely caught a glimpse of the arcane fire stored there before Weiss, right behind her now, spread her hands and exhaled, as if she were blowing a very angry kiss.

“Wait, I’m -”

Arcane flames leapt out from her clasped hands - Yang braced herself, considering that she was _directly_ in their path. She had no idea what the hell Weiss was thinking putting her _right_ in the blast zone, but to her amazement, the flames danced _around_ her body, not even singeing her waist. She followed the fire’s path with her eyes as it created a perfect safe zone for her before spreading outwards still, the flames lancing across both skeletons and the zombie between them.

Yang just met Weiss’ eyes, one eyebrow raised.

Weiss smirked, catching her floating spellbook with one hand and snapping it shut.

“What? I _told_ you, I have impeccable control.”

Yang shrugged, conceding the point, before a third, now-blackened arrow flew at her. She managed to bring her axe up in time, the flat of the blade deflecting its metallic tip.

“I’m getting real sick of you,” Yang said. With a horrible, sickening _crunch,_ the blackened thing became a worthless pile of bones when she shattered its skull.

Weiss’ spell had incinerated the skeleton Blake was fighting, so she sheathed her dagger, her hand suddenly glowing black. She pointed a condemning finger at the remaining corpse, making its body start to wither away, the creature screeching with mental (and apparently physical) agony. 

Ruby moved like a flash, tearing the decaying thing in two from one shoulder to the opposite hip. 

Silence fell on the chamber once more.

“Nice work, team,” Ruby said, spinning her scythe in a circle to fold it back up, stowing it on her back.

“Sorry about the skeletons,” Blake said. “I guess in hindsight I should have realized that it’s tough to stab something mostly made of bones.”

“You’re fine,” Yang said with a shrug. “They looked tougher than the flesh piles anyway.”

Weiss walked up behind her again, putting a gentle hand on her shoulder blade. Then she put a not-so-gentle boot directly on Yang’s butt to brace herself.

“You have an arrow in your back.” 

Yang winced at the sharp _tug_ as the petite mage pulled it out. She heard it clatter to the floor as Weiss walked up beside her, to better see Ruby and Blake while they talked.

“Thanks,” Yang muttered.

Ruby’s brow was furrowed, deep in thought. Yang stretched, looking for a spot on one of the tables that wasn’t _completely_ decayed. To her disappointment, every inch of the benches was rotted almost clean through, to the point where sitting at one would probably just break it, so she crossed her arms to wait.

“What kind of spell was that?” Weiss asked of Blake, putting her now-locked spellbook in its proper place at her lower back.

Blake shrugged. “It’s just a little trick. Makes someone think they’re hearing their own funeral bells. It always hurts, but it’s _really_ bad if you’re already wounded.”

Weiss crossed her arms. “And that worked on a _zombie?”_

Blake just shrugged again, her shortsword vanishing somewhere into her cloak. “Apparently.”

There was a pause. Weiss’ eyes found Yang’s, but Yang had spent the whole time looking at Ruby. She made a little hum, her face finally un-scrunching.

“What’re you thinking?” Yang prompted.

“I dunno just yet,” Ruby admitted. “But this doesn’t add up.”

“What is there to add up?” Weiss scoffed. “We were told there were zombies down here, we found them, now they’re dead for good this time. Shouldn’t we be moving on?”

Ruby shrugged, walking towards the door that seemed to lead further below. Yang raised an eyebrow as Blake followed, but she probably just wanted to scout ahead.

“You’re right, Weiss,” Ruby called over her shoulder. “The zombies were there as promised, but that guy said that this place had been boarded up for a month.”

Yang heard Weiss cross her arms as they filed down another staircase. “So?”

This time, it was Blake’s voice that answered her.

“So who lit the torches?”

* * *

They went down further, encountering a few more undead creatures as they went, but it was hardly a challenge. Weiss’ little fireballs and Blake’s death bells did most of the work before the creatures had a chance to even swing at Ruby or Yang, and they were usually split apart the moment that they made it that far.

The cavern really spread out as they descended, fanning off into multiple rooms and pathways. They were mostly empty, though there was an occasional surprise attack from a single half-decayed zombie in one of them, which was briefly frightening, but mildly inconvenient in the end.

“Where’s all the loot?” Yang finally asked, bored. “I mean, come on, we’ve been exploring all these rooms and I haven’t even seen a single copper piece.”

“Well, welcome to Brinewater,” Blake said. “Like Caleb said, this place _used_ to be an underground passway for thieves and assassins. Do you _really_ think that they’d just leave money or treasure lying around?”

“That’s fair,” Weiss said. “I still don’t get why it exists, though. This place _is_ old, but these aren’t natural tunnels - the walls are too smooth, the corners are all 90-degree angles. This used to be a building.”

“It used to be a hideout,” Blake said.

Ruby paused, raising an eyebrow. “For who?”

Blake let out a little sigh. “You three _really_ are new here, huh?”

There was a pause.

“Yang and I just got in last night,” Ruby admitted. “We slept at the inn.”

“I walked into town early this morning,” Weiss confirmed.

“Well, welcome to our little historical tour.” Blake raised her arms, gesturing to the concrete walls around them. “This is where the Jade Shadow guild used to operate.”

There was another pause, longer this time.

“So, there’s a lot to unpack there,” Yang said. “Why ‘used to?’”

“Well, we didn’t need to be underground anymore,” Blake said, taking the lead as their group explored further. 

“I heard about the Jade Shadow last night at the tavern,” Ruby said. “It’s a thieves’ guild, right?”

“Mostly,” Blake said. 

“Wait, you said ‘we,’” Weiss accused. “You’re a _thief?”_

Ruby and Yang stopped, looking over at Blake too. She didn’t even turn around.

“No. I’m an assassin.”

They had stopped walking now, all just staring at her.

“What?” She said, finally turning, her golden eyes meeting their own. “Don’t judge me. You all leapt into battle just as quickly as I did - have you three _honestly_ never killed anything in your life until now?”

Yang heard Weiss suck in a breath, as if to angrily reply, but she just stopped, exhaling instead. She wondered what the story was there. She’d have to find out later.

“Maybe we know how to _fight,_ but that’s different from killing someone from the shadows in cold blood,” Yang said. “At least _I_ let my foes look me in the eye before I cut them down.”

Blake met her eyes with a challenge. “Then it sounds like you’re not being very efficient.”

Yang crossed her arms, impassive. “There’s no honor in assassinations.”

“No, but there is coin,” Blake said.

They all looked at her in silence. Her temper seemed to rise at their collective stares, her muscles tensing, her face hardening.

“Why’re you all staring at me?” She said, exasperated. “You’re all are doing this for the money, same as me!”

“How do we know you won’t slit our throats and take our gold once we finish up here?” Weiss said haughtily.

Blake laughed. “Three on one? No thank you. I’m a killer, not a miracle worker.”

“What about when we sleep?”

“Oh, I’ll be _long_ gone by then, sweetheart, don’t you worry.”

“Blake,” Ruby said, taking a cautious step forward. “Calm down.”

In a whirl of motion, one of her daggers was raised, pointing _directly_ at Ruby’s nose.

“Don’t _tell_ me to calm down!”

Yang heard Weiss tense. She’d put her axe away, so she just tightened up her fists, calculating out whether she could run and tackle Blake before she put that dagger to use.

Ruby’s hands raised up innocently, her face a tiny bit worried but trying to stay cool. She was silent for a while, letting Blake just take a few heavy breaths.

“I’m sorry,” Ruby said evenly, once Blake seemed to regain a bit of her composure. “I insulted you, and I shouldn’t have. I just don’t want things to get out of hand.”

“Too late for that,” Weiss snarked, making Blake’s golden eyes whip to her in an instant, the knife still pointed at Ruby.

“Weiss,” Ruby said sternly, making the mage stiffen. She swallowed thickly, stepping back.

“... sorry. That was rude.”

Slowly, Blake looked back at Ruby. After a moment, she let out a little sigh, her dagger arm falling down before she buried the blade in a hidden belt.

“Whatever,” she said. “I’m gonna go scout ahead, get a look at the lower layer before we go down there.”

Ruby just wordlessly quirked an eyebrow.

“I’m coming back,” she said, making their shoulders drop a bit with relief. “Look, I… I’m sorry for freaking out. Scouting will help me cool off.” She met Ruby’s eyes. “That okay?”

Ruby, nodding at the sincerity in her question - as if she really _would_ stay upon request - and gestured towards the stairs at the far end of the room.

“I was gonna suggest we take a break anyways. We’ll be in this room -” she pointed to one, a little side chamber with only one entrance, a door that they could shut “- so come find us when you’re done.” She leveled her piercing silver eyes at Blake, though there was a warmth in them. “Don’t be long.”

“Yeah,” Blake said. “Oh, and I’m borrowing this back.” She put a hand on her own chest, applying a purple energy to herself as it simultaneously vanished from Ruby. Her armor clanked a bit more noticeably as she walked, and Blake disappeared into the shadows, down the staircase. Weiss and Yang filed into the chamber.

Once Blake was completely gone, Ruby just nodded after her, swinging the door shut.

* * *

“So, what the hell was that?” Weiss asked once everyone was situated.

“Seems like she’s got a temper,” Yang said with a shrug, leaning against the wall as Ruby’s weapon illuminated the otherwise dark chamber. “She doesn’t like being tested, so she lashed out. Can’t say I blame her.”

“No, I don’t think that’s it,” Ruby said, her chin resting on her fist.

“Well, whatever it is, I don’t trust her,” Weiss said, pulling out her spellbook to flip through it.

Yang paused, patiently waiting for Ruby.

“She’s a confidence woman,” Ruby finally said. “At the tavern, she was all cool, collected. She barely flinched when she saw that I noticed all of her hidden weapons. She’s got a hell of a poker face.”

Yang leaned in. “But she dropped that with us.”

“Yeah.”

“That bothers you, doesn’t it?”

Ruby nodded, staring at the floor. “It does.”

“Who cares?” Weiss said, her eyes not leaving her spellbook. “I just hope she keeps it together until we’re done with all this and I can just take my fifty gold and get out of here.”

“If you think that this is just gonna end with the fifty gold, I think you’ll be disappointed,” Ruby said.

Weiss gave her a glare.

“Oh? And _how_ did you divine that, O Fearless Leader of ours?”

“Can it, Princess,” Yang said. “Let her think it out.”

If the glare she’d given to Ruby was icy, the one she sent to Yang was _absolute zero._

“I didn’t _have_ to protect you from that spell of mine, you know,” she said, crossing her arms as her spellbook gently floated in the air in front of her. “Maybe next time I won’t be so charitable.”

“I can probably take it,” Yang said. “And I could also _probably_ cut you in half with one swing.”

“Oh, I’d _love_ to see you try, you overgrown-”

“Stop it, both of you,” Ruby said.

To Yang’s surprise, Weiss didn’t say anything - but Yang couldn’t resist pushing _one_ more little button.

“Aw, c’mon, Rubes, Princess and I were just flirting a little.”

Yang’s smile became a thousand times wider as Weiss’ face went red.

Ruby closed her eyes, exhaling. She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Yang. Please.”

“Sorry,” she said, upon better inspecting Ruby’s face. The frustration there was more than she’d expected - was Ruby worried about Blake?

Weiss just let out a little ‘harrumph’ before she went back to thumbing through her spellbook.

Silence fell over them for a while.

“What… what did you mean?” Weiss said timidly. “When you said that this ‘wasn’t going to end with the fifty gold?’”

Just then, the door creaked open a bit as Blake returned.

“Hey,” Ruby said. “Right on time - did you spot anything?”

Blake shrugged, shutting the door behind her and sitting in front of Ruby’s glowing weapon, cross-legged. “Not much on the level below, which seems like it’s mostly an armory or whatever. The weapons are all gone, obviously. _Two_ levels down, though…”

They all perked up.

“Something’s walking around down there. I can only see so far in total darkness, but it sounded _big."_ She sighed, as if reluctant to admit it. “ _T_ _oo_ big for me to take on by myself.”

Ruby nodded. “Thanks for doing that. And for coming back.”

Blake rolled her eyes, looking away. “I said I would, didn’t I?”

Ruby just let a faint smile play across her lips. “You did.”

She turned back towards the center, once again all business.

“So, to answer your question, Weiss, there’s something _off_ about this job. So far, the work’s been easy, and the pay is amazing.”

“Maybe too amazing?” Weiss asked with hesitance.

“I think so,” Ruby said.

“What about the big guy downstairs?” Yang asked. “Maybe _he’s_ the real threat, and all these other things have just been small fry.”

“Sure, but the way that that guy pitched it to us, we’d be the first people down here ever since the zombies showed up, so how would he _know_ that there was something like that down there?”

“Plus the lit torches upstairs,” Blake added.

Ruby nodded. “I think someone’s been down here before us.”

“Well, maybe we aren’t the first people that guy hired,” Weiss said. “It was only the first floor where the torches were lit - maybe another group came down here, lit the torches, and got promptly killed by those zombies in that room.”

There was a pause.

“It’s possible,” Ruby said. “But there’s still everything else.” She looked to Blake. “You know that guy, right? The one at the bar, who hired us?”

Blake nodded. “Yeah, Caleb and I go back a while. He’s hired me for jobs in the past. He can be a bit of a pain in the ass, but he follows through.”

“And, when you say ‘jobs…’”

Blake’s golden eyes fell on Weiss, who looked away, perhaps ashamed by her comment.

“Yeah,” Blake said. “Guild work.”

Ruby nodded. “So he’s a guild member too. And you’re saying that this place used to _belong_ to that same guild. Can you think of any reasons why they’d want to clear it back out?”

Blake shrugged. “This place has been out of use for a _long_ time - way longer than I, or anybody I know, has worked for the Shadow. Now everything’s aboveground, and all I know is that Edna made it that way.”

“Who?” Yang asked.

“Edna VanLee, Lady of Jade - head of the guild.” Blake paused. _“And_ the mayor.”

Ruby quirked a brow.

“Look, the fact that she’s head of the guild is supposed to _stay_ in the guild - but most people with a brain in their head suspect it, considering how tightly both it and the town are run.”

Weiss let out a sigh that turned into a little laugh. “Gods. No matter _where_ I go, I can’t escape corrupt politicians.”

“Welcome to politics,” Yang said with a shrug.

Blake shook her head. “I actually wouldn’t say that - Edna’s a _lot_ of things, for sure, but I actually wouldn’t call her corrupt.”

“She’s the mayor of the town _and_ she runs the thieves’ guild? _How_ is that not corrupt?” Weiss asked.

Blake sighed. “It’s not a perfect system. But when she got elected, crime actually went _down,_ because she controls it. There’s a set of rules, an _order,_ to the thieving and murdering. You can’t just be a purse-snatcher in this town, you have to join the guild and follow the rules.”

“And give her a cut, I assume,” Ruby said.

Blake nodded. “True. She’s an evil. I wouldn’t even go so far as to say she’s a necessary one.” She shrugged. “But she’s what we’ve got, and we very well _could_ have worse.”

There was a long pause.

“You’re not much of an optimist, are you, kitty cat?” Yang asked.

Blake looked at her, letting out a chuckle. “I can’t afford to be.” Her eyes narrowed. “And don’t call me that.”

* * *

An hour had passed, and their little quartet of adventurers had now made their way back to the stairs, ready to confront whatever mysterious thing was stomping around down there.

“Blake, can you quiet down my armor again?” Ruby asked.

“Actually, I have a spell that can make us _all_ quiet,” Blake said. “Think that’s a better idea?”

Ruby hummed in thought. “How much effort does that take?”

Blake shrugged. “It’s pretty much the most powerful thing I can do. With magic, anyways.”

“Don’t, then,” Ruby said. “You should save your strength for the fight. Stealth is handy, but once the fight starts, it starts. I want everybody to be fully ready.”

“I got back that spell I cast earlier, so I’m good to go,” Weiss said.

Ruby nodded. “Yang? You ready to get angry?”

Yang just nodded, a grin on her face. “More than ready.”

“Perfect. Blake?”

That same purple transfer of energy occurred, once again quieting Ruby’s armor down.

“How many times can you do that?” Weiss asked.

“As many as I need,” Blake said with a shrug. “Only on one person at a time, though.”

“That’s handy,” she said, perhaps slightly jealous.

“Everybody set?” Ruby asked over her shoulder.

Yang, her axe on her back, nodded, cracking her knuckles with a grin.

Blake drew her sword in her right hand, holding a dagger in her left with a reverse grip.

Weiss opened the lock on her spellbook, letting it float in front of her while she found a specific page.

Ruby nodded back at them.

“Here we go.”

  
  


They made it two floors down, into a large, cavernous space - Blake had said it was a massive circle, mostly featureless.

“What’s this floor supposed to be?” Weiss asked.

“I think it’s the vault,” Blake said. She pointed out into the darkness - or at least, Yang _assumed_ she did, considering it was pitch-black. “There’s a big steel door off to the left, but I couldn’t get close enough to really see more than that.”

“One small problem,” Yang muttered. “How the hell are Ruby and I supposed to see?”

“Blake, did you see torches in here?” Weiss asked.

“Yeah, they’re in sconces every fifty feet or so. Why?”

“I can light them with my magic, from far away. Once things start, I’ll do it.”

“Start with the ones closest to us,” Ruby said. “Do it the _moment_ that that thing notices Blake.” Her voice softened. “As soon as we can see, Yang and I will come running.”

Blake nodded. “I’ll buy myself some time until then.”

They were currently perched atop a tall staircase, looking out into the circular room. The stairs descended to their left, probably approaching the ground while hugging the wall.

“So, we’re going downstairs first, right?” Yang asked.

“Yeah. Blake will climb down, hit the thing from one side, then we run in.”

“You sure you can hold on until then?” Yang asked Blake.

“I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve. Just as long as you’re ready to start taking the hits when you get there.”

“Oh, _trust_ me, that’s the plan,” Yang said.

“Unfortunately, I have to come down, too,” Weiss said. “I’d love to keep the high ground, but I think it’ll be too far for me to hit this thing.”

“Just stay behind us,” Ruby said. She started down the stairs. “Blake, you’re up!”

What followed was a very tense silence as the three of them tried to descend the stairs as quickly but carefully as they could. Weiss had to act as their guide, so she’d taken Yang’s hand and led her down the stairs, with Ruby following in a little daisy chain. 

“Two more steps,” Weiss whispered.

Sure enough, the material that Yang’s foot reached felt different than the stairs.

“There’s a torch right above us - the second I hear that thing, I’m lighting it.”

A low, dull _thud_ echoed throughout the room.

“Think that’s the big guy?” Yang asked.

_Thud. Thud. Thud._

“What was your first clue?” Weiss asked.

Ruby shushed them. “Wait for Blake.”

A very tense fifteen seconds passed, the dull _thudding_ sound bouncing through the chamber.

A sickening cry. The soft _snickt_ of a blade. The horrible scraping sound of metal on bone.

Blake’s voice. _“NOW!”_

Light instantly haloed them, with an arcane _snap_ of Weiss’ fingers as she lit the torch above. Yang took off running at a dead sprint towards the sound of Blake’s voice. Ruby was right beside her, her scythe glowing to illuminate their approach.

Another _thud,_ too loud to be a footstep, boomed right before they got there.

Not one, not two, but _three_ Blakes all stood side-by-side, about a foot and a half away from where a massive creature had just embedded an equally large axe in the stone floor, cracking it.

Yang realized that there had probably been four Blakes a moment prior.

The creature was at least twelve feet tall, half man, half bull, all bones. It had an unnaturally wide, ox-like pelvis, a relatively human torso and arms, and a massive, horned skull, with two glowing green flames where its eyes should be. The creature’s greataxe could easily be mistaken for a great _club_ with how ridiculously long and thick the blade was, but Yang figured that the creature was strong enough to make it still slice through flesh like butter. 

“Yang, time to light up!” Ruby called. 

To the outside observer, it would sound like a command, or an order - and to a degree, it was, but in actuality, Ruby wasn’t telling her precisely when to use her own abilities. She knew Yang was competent and was well aware that she was in range.

Ruby was just letting her know that she was out of the way.

Yang’s fists rammed together as her avatar of rage finally flew out of its cave with a vengeance - she felt a familiar heat around her as her eyes went blood red, her hair flying around her shoulders as if it was aflame. Pure adrenaline shot into her veins and her heart rate doubled almost instantly as she roared, reeling back a fist to strike the massive creature dead in the chest.

Her hair wasn’t _actually_ on fire, it was just a visual side effect of the primal anger coursing through her entire being.

The genuine flames that spilled out from her skin, wreathing her warrior’s form in an excessively literal raging fire, though…

 _That_ wasn’t just for show.

The minotaur skeleton started turning the slightest instant early, noticing that its body had been singed before Yang even reached it, was immediately _pounded_ by her two thick gloves, one after the other, in the femur. Roaring with a sick, undead crackle, the skeleton brought its head down, attempting to impale Yang with its horn. 

She hopped back out of the way, jumping up and forwards the instant she landed, bringing a brutal flying axe kick down on the creature’s head. Her boot smacked into the bone, but to her disappointment, there was no sickeningly satisfying _crunch._ Landing, Yang reached one hand into the creature’s gaping mouth, holding its lower jaw in place before driving her other fist into its chin from below, the brutal uppercut making the creature stand up and stumble a few feet backwards. 

Three identical rays of fire drilled neat little holes right through its sternum as Weiss, having lit another two torches, now entered the fray. Her loose hair flew about her face with arcane energies as she prepared another spell.

Ruby knocked off one of the zombie’s fingers with her glowing scythe, then turned to Blake.

“He’s wide open, on the side - see it?”

“I see it,” Blake replied, digging her sword in-between the creature’s ribs. The slight crack that Ruby had directed her to became briefly wider before the rib _snapped_ clean off, making the creature roar with frustration and pain.

Whirling, the skeleton lifted Ruby off her feet with one bony horn, its axe slicing towards the ever-shifting illusory trio of Blakes - the first two ducked quick enough, but the third one was a bit slow, and was beheaded before fading away.

“Oh, no, ugly, you keep your eyes on _me!”_ Yang shouted, jumping up and drilling the skeleton in the chest with two quick punches. Her flaming aura lit up once more, sending a wave of fire out after her attack, scorching the creature’s ribs.

A layer of ice started to form around the creature until it tore free, making Weiss growl in frustration before the minotaur took another swing at Yang. Its axe tore a significant gash in her chest, making her crumple into the floor.

 _“Yang!”_ Weiss shouted, having been the closest one to the impact.

“She’s fine - she can take a hit!” Ruby said.

The creature brought its axe down once more, but Yang was already shakily making her way to her feet. This time, she sidestepped the axe, jumping onto its embedded handle and using it as a step up to punch the minotaur twice in the jaw, her fiery aura once again flaring out from her.

Yang caught Blake’s golden eyes through the skeleton’s bony torso as she fell back down. Her lips were moving, and despite the absolute cacophony of blades, spells, and fire, Yang heard her, clear as day.

_“Feel better.”_

It sounded as much like a _demand_ as it did a reassurance, but oddly enough, the still-bleeding gash on her chest began to close, as if Blake had somehow managed to convince Yang’s body that it was less injured than it had previously thought. Blake just gave her a quick nod before dragging her shortsword up the creature’s ribs, playing it like a horrible, undead xylophone. 

Ruby hooked her scythe behind the creature’s leg, trying to pull it through like she had with the zombie, but metal just screamed against bone, leaving a sizable indent in the creature’s femur. It tried to gore her again but she just whirled, as if already anticipating the attack. There was a hole in the creature’s jaw, so she hooked the blade of her scythe _inside its mouth,_ the very tip pointing out between its teeth. Ruby pulled, and a sickening _snap_ echoed through the chamber as she sliced its chin clean in two. Each half of its jaw hung limply from the skull, and the creature’s burning green eyes narrowed on her.

Yang smirked with appreciation - she’d been focusing on its head on purpose, and Ruby knew that, exploiting the major crack she’d made in the bone to just tear it to pieces. Yang drilled the creature’s leg twice, hoping to break it, but it ignored her, this time trying to gore Ruby again.

She let the attack screech against her scythe, but that made her unable to dodge or block its greataxe - the massive blade crashing into her chestplate, but somehow not breaking it. Ruby still spat out a wad of blood just from the sheer impact.

“I’ve got her!” Blake said, murmuring in her direction. Ruby was still in pain even as the green light washed over her, but she gave Blake a grateful nod.

Blake made another gesture, the air briefly ringing with the sound of a bell. Funeral bells, to be exact - the minotaur clawed at its head, black energy seeping into its bones.

Yang felt Weiss run up behind her, thrusting a hand out against her back - a deafening _boom_ erupted through the chamber, echoing at least fifteen times over as a thunderous blast of air leapt from the mage’s fingertips. Yang once again found herself surrounded - but not engulfed - by the spell, completely unharmed.

The minotaur skeleton, on the other hand, was far less fortunate, the concussive blast making it slide against the floor.

Its movements had slowed at this point, but the minotaur managed to bring a horn up to Blake - there were two of her, but the coin flip didn’t go in her favor as the _real_ Blake cried out with pain from being gored. Ruby ran up to her, putting a hand on her back to catch her - Blake briefly glowed with radiant energy as Ruby poured what little healing she had into Blake’s body.

“How many more hits can this thing _take?”_ Weiss called out.

“Start counting and find out!” Yang shouted. She ran to the minotaur, still reeling back from hitting Blake. It saw her coming out of one glowing green eye, bringing its massive axe up towards her in a long horizontal sweep. Yang turned towards the blow, reaching out to meet it.

The minotaur’s axe hit her dead-on, her hands wrapping around the blade to stop it. She’d seen that it was dull enough that she wouldn’t just lose her fingers, but there was enough force behind the swing that it still dug about an inch into her flesh. Yang let the pain just fuel her anger, her hands wrapping around the uppermost part of the handle.

“Gimme this,” she said, fiery rage bursting out from her as she _yanked_ the massive axe from the creature’s fingers. It was far too heavy for her to hold and carry, even now with her added strength, so she let it clatter to the ground. The creature’s broken jaw clacked as its head turned towards her, trying to attack with its horns one final time.

Yang took an almost artful step to the side as the horn missed her, digging the fingers of her left hand into the minotaur’s eye socket as it tossed its head upwards. She let the thing lift her off her feet, letting go and flying higher once it reached the apex of its upswing. Her momentum stalled midair, and Yang reeled back for a punch.

The minotaur skeleton looked up at her, wreathed in flame as she grinned, falling down towards the ground with all the rage and fire of a meteor from the heavens. The beautiful _crunch_ sound she’d been waiting for echoed throughout the chamber as her hand broke clean through the creature’s skull. She rode it all the way down to the floor, its entire head _shattering_ to pieces upon impact with the cold, hard stone. Yang was tossed aside, rolling and bouncing off the floor before skittering to a stop.

The impact winded her, and Yang wheezed with triumph, sitting up to find her foe headless and motionless, surrounded by bone shards on the floor. A shadow briefly fell over her before she realized that she’d fallen at Weiss’ feet, the petite mage glowering down at her. Weiss’ hands were on her hips as her spellbook floated judgmentally above Yang’s head.

Yang just burst into uproarious laughter, consciously dousing the inferno in her heart. The avatar flew back into its cave.

“Now _that’s_ how you finish a fight!” She said, whooping with laughter.

“Awesome moves, Yang!” Ruby shouted from across the room. She held her scythe with one hand, Blake’s arm laid across her shoulders.

Weiss, however, was unimpressed.

“That was the most childish, foolish, reckless, dangerous, idiotic thing I have _ever -”_

“Thank you!” Yang said, shooting her a beaming smile. She was confident that the dirt and bits of dried blood only complimented her hair. She reached out to Weiss. “Give me a hand up?”

Weiss momentarily offered to, but paused halfway. “Your hands are covered in blood.”

“Yeah, I caught a greataxe with ‘em - weren’t you watching?”

Weiss rolled her eyes. “I’m not touching those.”

A devilish grin spread across Yang’s face. “Oh, yes you are - c’mere!”

She snatched Weiss’ hand, making her let out a prissy, offended shriek as Yang pulled. Considering their weight differential, Weiss’ poor stance, and the sheer amount of raw strength in Yang’s massive arms, rather than pull herself _up,_ she instead pulled Weiss _down._

Right on top of her.

The petite mage squirmed into her chest. “Unhand me this _instant,_ you oaf!”

“Aw, c’mon, Weiss, we just killed a giant skeleton thingy,” Yang said, ignoring Weiss’ futile attempts to pound her chest. “We should celebrate!”

“We can celebrate when we’re out of here,” Ruby said, making her way to them. Blake slipped out from her embrace, now walking under her own power - though she was still a bit shaky. “Let her go, Yang.”

“Fiiiine,” Yang said with a smirk, removing one massive hand from Weiss’ body. The posh woman clambered to her feet, a muted but angry tirade of insults pouring out of her mouth as she smoothed down her clothing and fixed her hair. Ruby offered Yang a hand this time, and had both the stance and the strength to pull her to her feet.

“I _do_ hope you’re proud of yourself, you dunce. Why did you feel the need to _assault_ me like that?”

“I _was_ trying to pull myself up,” Yang said. “You just weren’t strong enough to lift me.”

Weiss crossed her arms. “Well, some of us have strengths _other_ than dumb muscle.”

“That sounds boring,” Yang said, stretching out her arms.

“How’re your hands?” Blake asked, inspecting them.

“They’re fine,” she lied.

“No they aren’t,” Blake said with a sigh, dropping down to one knee to fish through her pack. She produced a roll of bandages, reaching for Yang’s hand. “Give me those.”

“Fine, _Mom,”_ Yang said, rolling her eyes in a fake dramatic lament.

“Wait, I thought I was your mom,” Ruby joked.

“A girl can have two moms, can’t she?” Yang asked.

To her surprise, Ruby pinked ever so slightly. 

To her even greater surprise, so did _Blake._

Yang suppressed a smile. So Ruby _had_ been worried about Blake earlier - just for perhaps a different reason than Yang had first thought.

They made idle chatter for a few minutes as Blake cleaned up her hands. Weiss took a leisurely walk around the room, lighting the remaining torches as she went. Ruby had sat down in a small pile, pulling bone shards out of the folding mechanism for her scythe with some tongs and tweezers to make sure it would collapse properly. 

“So,” Blake said, now finished with Yang’s hands. She pointed over to the huge brass door embedded in the wall. It was a big oval shape, with a wheel-like handle embedded on the front, and two massive hinges on the left side. It bowed out slightly, like a pot lid on its side.

“Who else wants to see what’s behind that door?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, thanks so much for reading!
> 
> In-between chapters I wrote out a full reference document for myself that has everybody's stats, class and subclass, feature lists, the choices that they've *made* with those features (like which maneuvers to take or which spells to learn) etc., so things should be concrete from here on out. For chapter 1, I just had a mostly-vague idea of how everybody would work, and it was all RP with no combat anyways, so I wasn't too worried about it - I double-checked and it's all mechanically compliant. Now, though, things are 100% concrete and you therefore should (if you really wanted to, lol) be able to count out spell slots and things of that nature and have it all work out.  
> However, I figure I'll get a couple questions about subtler aspects of this (there are at least three, off the top of my head, then maybe another three after that if people *really* wanna get into it) so I'll make a few clarifications off the bat!  
> -These characters are all level 3! I won't *directly* state "they leveled up" each time but I feel like the progression will be obvious to those who know the game well.  
> -Everybody got a starting Feat. I like Feats, I think they're a fun way to express a character, especially from level 1, and that lets you build a character *around* a Feat instead of having to build *into* one. For example...  
> -Yang has the Tavern Brawler Feat, so she can punch. I'm also letting her cheat a bit and make 2 unarmed strikes as an Attack action despite being level 3, which is precisely the kind of concession I would make if a player came to me and said "Hey Red, I wanna play a barbarian but I want to emphasize the moment where I rage by putting away my weapon and just going in with my bare fists." That's a cool character choice and a deliberate self-nerf, so I would accommodate it as DM. When she gets Extra Attack, she'll probably make 3 fist attacks, not 4. She's also not using her bonus action to punch because she has to use that for her flame aura, which is her subclass feature - it's called Storm Herald Barbarian, it's in Xanthar's, check it out, it's rad. I like the idea of her having to be careful because the fire hits *everybody* in 10 feet, not just enemies, I think that fits the "barbarians' rages are states of overpowering violence that aren't *too* concerned about who gets hurt" idea without making you have to attack your allies or something unfun like that.  
> -Ruby's weapon is a homebrew thing she built in her backstory. She has Tinker's Tools as a Battle Master at level 3, and Crescent Rose is *mostly* just a glaive with a little "you can transform it as a bonus action" thing for flair. Aaaaand maybe a secret extra thing you'll see later.  
> -I removed Ruby's darkvision. I don't understand why Aasimar gets the Light cantrip AND darkvision. Also she looks human because I like that more, honestly.  
> -Weiss' levitating spellbook is an *extremely* low-power homebrew magic item - it literally just floats when it's open, which exists because two-handed spellcasting is cool. Also she has no arcane focus, and Blake doesn't either. To me magic is infinitely cooler if it's a thing you do with your hands, so I just remove the fact that you *need* to be holding a specific item, but I still make spellcasters have the free hands *to* hold that specific item. Just... barehandedly hurling a fireball is 80x cooler to me than having it jump out of a wand or staff.
> 
> Whoops! I talked about dungeons and dragons too much! Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, feel free to ask more questions (about D&D or just the story in general) in the comments below, and have a great day! See you next time!
> 
> -R


	3. The Vault (Ruby, Weiss)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is very violent. It's fantasy violence for the most part, but still, it gets very intense.  
> I'm not sure how often I'm going to put up warnings like this, because this entire fic is very violent, but I thought I'd state it directly here, just in case.
> 
> -R

“Everybody ready if I take a look?” Ruby asked, walking over to the massive brass door.

“How come she gets to open it?” Weiss asked, of Yang.

“Because your tiny arms probably aren’t strong enough,” Yang said, making Weiss cross her arms, but shrug, upon realizing that they  _ were _ rather tiny.

Blake caught her hand.

“Ruby,” she said. “Wait just a second.”

Blake closed her eyes, extending a hand towards the door. There was a brief arcane  _ pulse _ of energy in the air, making her nod with confirmation.

“The door’s trapped,” she said matter-of-factly.

“You have a spell for that?” Ruby asked with a snide grin.

Blake shrugged. “It’s kept me alive.”

Both paused.

Blake was still holding her hand.

“R-right,” she said, adjusting her cloak as she dropped it. “Anyways, the second you open that thing, a bunch of arrows, spears, needles - something like that - are gonna shoot out at you. They’re poisoned.”

“Huh,” Ruby said, hand on her chin. “Can you disable it?”

Blake laughed. “The spell doesn’t do that, I’m afraid.”

Ruby chuckled along, looking over her shoulder. “Hey, Weiss.”

The wizard blinked. “Yes?”

“You said some mages can make a phantom hand. Can you?”

She shook her head. “No, I never bothered with that spell. Besides, I don’t think it’d be strong enough - this is a big door.”

“You have a whole  _ book _ of spells, but you can’t make a phantom hand?” Yang asked.

Weiss sighed. “That kind of spell is different. Like Ruby’s light, or like Blake’s funeral bells, it’s not as much of a ‘spell’ in the traditional sense as it is a little magical trick. I know a lot of spells, yes - but the little tricks can’t be written down, you have to just memorize them. It’s far easier than memorizing an entire spell, but it still takes time. The big upside is that they don’t take any energy to do, so you don’t run out of them.”

“So… what, then?” Yang asked, confused. To her credit, she did seem genuinely interested in the answer.

“So, I only know a very small amount of spells like that.” She lit a small flame on her fingertip. “And I figured that if I was in a situation where I’m out of spells for the day, I should  _ probably _ make sure that some of my little tricks can be used to fight.”

“That’s fair,” Blake said.

“But we still have this door problem,” Ruby said. “Blake, which  _ way _ do the arrows shoot? Outwards?”

“I dunno,” Blake said. “The spell tells me the kind of threat, not  _ everything _ about it. All I know is that opening it will trigger some kind of piercing attack, and it’s poisonous.”

“Let me take a look,” Weiss said, walking up.

“Don’t open it!” Yang said.

Weiss stopped, looking over her shoulder. “I’m not gonna open it.” Yang capitulated, making Weiss roll her eyes and turn back to the door.

They all watched her investigate it for a while, examining the hinges, the mechanism, the handle…

“Found it,” she said, pointing to the ground in front of the door.

Sure enough, there were a set of barely-noticeable holes in the floor right in front of the handle, about an inch in diameter. Ruby figured that they’d been very deliberately placed such that they wouldn’t be revealed by the relatively low torchlight in the chamber. 

“Okay, then,” Ruby said. “Step back, Weiss.”

She nodded as Ruby walked up, pressing herself against the outside of the door, the circular handle beside her. She reached out with her right arm, pulling down on the brass wheel. It loudly  _ creaked _ in protest, but managed to turn eventually. Ruby grunted with the effort - she was strong, but it was tricky with absolutely no leverage. Once she’d made a full turn, a horrible and sharp  _ snickt! _ echoed throughout the room, as a series of long, wrought-iron spears erupted from the floor. Ruby jumped a little from the surprise, but she remained unharmed because of her position. The spears dripped with a sickly green liquid for about three seconds before vanishing once more.

“Well, there we go,” Ruby said, continuing to turn the handle - though she stayed in her position, just in case the spears jumped out again. “Thanks, you two.”

A loud, hollow  _ thunk _ emanated from the door, and it ever so slowly began to swing open.

Yang stepped in front of Weiss, hand on her axe. “Wait a minute, there’s something -”

A loud, low moan spilled out of the crack in the door. Ruby and Blake jumped back, their weapons drawn. Weiss peeked her head out from behind Yang’s tree-like arms.

“That… sounds like a zombie…” she said, her voice barely a whisper.

“A  _ big _ one,” Yang agreed, her axe now in her hands.

Ruby unfolded her scythe. “Get ready.”

With a long creak, the door swung farther open, until it hung wide on its hinges. The chamber inside was still pitch-black, and Ruby squinted into the darkness, trying in vain to observe whatever horrible creature they’d just unleashed.

Beside her, Blake let out a tiny gasp of fear. Out of the corner of her eye, Ruby watched her put her dagger in her teeth, reaching under her leather armor like her life depended on it. Her slightly clawed fingers finally dug out a small silver necklace, with a weird symbol that Ruby couldn’t recognize in the moment on a chain.

“By the gods…” Weiss whispered. Shakily, she called out, “W-whatever you do, don’t get hit by the beams!”

“By the  _ what?” _ Yang asked.

Then the creature floated out into the light.

The first thing that Ruby saw was the mouth. The face of the floating, vaguely spherical mound of flesh was dominated by its gaping mouth, lined with a row of horrible, needle-like teeth. Above that was its solid, pupiless eye, cold, white, bloodshot, and unblinking. The only thing that gave the creature any signs of life was the ever so slight bit of motion as it gently drew and exhaled undead breaths, its mouth remaining mostly open.

There was that, and the slithering, writhing mass of fleshy tentacles on its head.

Several were cut some point before the base, but four remained what Ruby  _ assumed _ was ‘intact’ - considering that those four each had another, smaller, unblinking undead eye at the end of the stalk.

All four stared  _ directly _ at them.

“What the  _ fuck _ is that?” Yang shouted.

“It’s…” Weiss swallowed thickly, shaking her head with disbelief. “It’s a zombified Beholder.”

* * *

One of the creature’s eye stalks stared directly into Ruby’s soul.

“Everybody  _ move!” _ she shouted.

And like that, things took off - Yang’s fiery aura  _ burst _ out from her as she let her axe clatter to the ground, not even bothering to sheathe it properly. Her right fist  _ drilled _ into the creature’s fleshy, disgusting eye, but she didn’t even pierce the surface - and neither did her second swing, despite hitting the exact same spot. The beholder zombie clamped down on her shoulder with its horrible teeth, making her cry out in pain.

_ “YANG!” _ Weiss and Ruby shouted together. Ruby fumbled with her scythe, unsure of how to hit the creature with Yang in its mouth, but Weiss had no such qualms - she made a squeezing gesture with one fist, briefly caking the creature over in ice. Yang fell out and made it back to her feet.

Ruby leapt into the air, slashing at the creature’s face - she made a decent dent on the side of its jaw, but it was undeterred. A soft  _ whoosh _ of air sounded in Ruby’s ear as Blake threw her dagger into the creature’s eye. It stuck there for a moment, before wetly sliding out and clattering to the ground. Blake hissed, drawing an identical blade.

Ruby heard moaning, and not from the creature.

“Guys, he’s not alone!”

“Look out!” Weiss shouted.

Ruby’s head whipped to the creature as one of its eye stalks swung towards her, a sickly yellow ray of energy blasting out and scraping along the floor before running across her torso. It was so  _ fast _ \- she didn’t have a chance to move out of the way as she felt the magical energy seep into her, making her limbs seize up.

Ruby growled, tensing - she  _ forced _ the paralysis out of her system before it managed to take over.

Yang shakily got up, both of her fists pounding into the creature’s side as her flaming aura burst out from her. The flames singed Ruby’s cloak a little, but that felt like a low priority at the moment.

A tacit moaning sound echoed from beside her - two smaller zombies shambled out of the vault door as well, aiming for her.

“I don’t have time for you,” Ruby muttered as Weiss tossed a tiny fireball at the creature.

Blake moved past her like a shadow, running up and holding out her silver necklace. Her body glowed purple and her voice rang with a supernatural echo as she shouted.

_ “Unholy abominations! In the name of the Sovereign of Chaos and Change, I exorcise you!” _

A brilliant light burst out from her, making all three undead creatures turn and flee.

Ruby  _ stared _ at Blake in disbelief. “Where did you learn Celestial?”

Blake’s golden eyes fell on her with equal amounts of shock, her jaw hanging open. “Where did  _ you?” _

“Oh, no you don’t!” Yang yelled, leaping up at the beholder zombie as it floated away.  _ “I’m not finished with you!” _ Her flaming aura burst out from her skin, both hands pounding into the creature’s back.

“Yang, don’t -!”  
But it was too late. The beholder overcame whatever spell Blake had cast on it, taking the opportunity to snap its jaws shut just inches from Yang’s face.

Weiss closed her fist, making the beholder zombie cake over with ice - Yang leapt back, and the creature’s jaws once again reached for her, but the arcane freezing slowed it down and made the dodge easy.

“Yang, I  _ had _ that!” Blake said.

“Sorry!” She said, the sincerity of her apology almost completely lost in the fracas. “Warn me next time and I won’t!”

“It doesn’t matter now - we have to fight this thing!” Ruby yelled, spinning her scythe and cutting up the creature’s body. It roared, sending another wave of energy out one of its eye stalks - this one at Yang.

She leapt into the air, twisting out of the way as the beam raced towards her. This one was different - instead of the sickly yellow that had gone for Ruby, this beam was slower, wider, and a deep, dark green. Also unlike the ray it had shot at Ruby,  _ this _ one made a loud burning sound, like the instant that a white-hot iron was quenched in the oil of a forge, but continuous.

Most notably, though, it drew a visible line of destruction in the floor.

“Avoid that beam at  _ all costs,” _ Weiss shouted, as Yang landed from her perilous dodge. “It’ll turn you to  _ dust!” _

“By the gods…” Blake whispered.

Ruby grit her teeth, resolute. She didn’t need to use it. They could handle this, the four of them.

“C’mere, ugly!” Yang shouted, pounding her fists into the creature’s eye. “I’m not about to be dust, dammit!”

Blake gathered a white light in her hand, pointing a finger - a beam of radiant energy pounded down on the beholder zombie like a divine spear, its flesh marked from the strike.

“Ruby, go!” Blake shouted.

She leapt into the air, dragging her scythe across the creature’s side. She felt the spell making her aim more true. She skidded across the stone floor, but the creature was still up.

A purple beam jumped out of the creature’s eyestalk - this one was just as fast as the one that hit Ruby, to the point where dodging was impossible - and clipped Weiss’ right eye. Instead of dealing damage, however, it just passed right over her, as if harmless.

The illusion of luck quickly faded, however, as Ruby saw Weiss’ face go pale, shivering despite the heat in the chamber that was emanating from Yang’s body. Thick beads of sweat poured down her face as she stumbled backwards, as if looking upon a nightmare.

“Weiss?” Yang asked, barely able to observe what was going on over her shoulder.

“D-don’t come c-closer!” She shouted at the beholder zombie. She covered her eyes, whimpering.

“Shit,” Ruby said - for the moment, it looked like Weiss was down for the count. “Blake, we gotta take this thing down!”

“I have an idea!” She said. Her dagger stuck into her belt as her hand pooled with swirling, black energy. With catlike grace, she climbed up onto the creature’s back while Yang kept it distracted. Now standing on its relatively unstable head, she thrust her open palm onto the creature’s back. It shrieked, the necrotic energy in her hand lancing through its entire body as if it were briefly squeezed by the cold fingers of the grave.

_ “Just DIE already!” _ Blake shouted - once again, in Celestial.

Where did an  _ assassin _ in a port town learn  _ Celestial? _

Ruby had no time to consider the answer, though, slashing desperately at the creature’s side once more before gaining distance again. She knew not to be  _ too _ close for very long, because…

“I - hope - you’re - hun-gry!” Yang yelled, each syllable accentuated by a punch to one of the creature’s bottom teeth. On the final swing, the tooth broke off, flying into the beholder’s mouth. It screeched in anger, floating backwards and up. Not about to let the creature get away so easily, Yang leapt up and delivered a swift kick to its escaping form, sending it further and faster than it had expected.

The beholder zombie toppled, dumping Blake off its back. Ruby had no doubts that she would land perfectly fine, but…

As she fell, the green ray swung towards her.

She had nowhere to go.

Blake  _ screamed _ as the green energy sliced through her, and she hit the ground with a dull  _ thud. _

Ruby inhaled pure rage and violence, her fingers tensed.

But she couldn’t.

She  _ had _ to do this without it.

“You  _ bastard!” _ Yang yelled. The creature had mostly been hovering a few feet above the ground - it necessitated jumping attacks from her and Yang, but apparently it could fly, and was now out of reach.

Yang, undeterred, sprinted to the wall that the creature had nearly flown into, taking three steps up it before jumping off, her fingers just  _ barely _ catching one of the fleshy protrusions on its back and sides. Taking the creature in both hands, she  _ roared, _ literally  _ throwing _ the beholder zombie down towards the floor.

It crashed into the stone in a heap, and Ruby was there the instant it landed - her scythe  _ raked _ up its body, leaving a thin scar along the side of its massive eyeball. The beholder zombie desperately bit at her but she just pirouetted, giving it another, almost perpendicular scar to match.

A mote of fire shot uselessly overhead, as Weiss - her hands still covering her eyes - desperately tried to assist.

Yang landed a moment later, running up. “Weiss, you have to fucking  _ look _ at it to hit it!”

“I-I’m sorry!” She said. “It’s just… so  _ terrifying!” _

“That beam did something to her,” Ruby said, jumping back as she dodged its teeth.

“Now’s a  _ great _ time for that,” Yang said, punching at the beholder - only one fist connected, and it didn’t leave the dent she was clearly hoping for.

The sisters traded blows with the thing, each landing a solid hit or three while Yang sustained a fair amount of damage. Weiss tossed out a fireball every few seconds, but only one managed to hit.

“Ruby,” Yang said, backing up as the creature’s jaws slammed shut an inch from her nose. “You should light up too.”

Ruby grimaced, swinging her scythe into the creature’s back. “Yang, you know I -”

“Mom wouldn’t want you to die here,” Yang said, her voice eerily calm all of a sudden. “I… I know why you made your vow, but…”

“Yang, I -”

“You can’t let Blake die too.”

The finality in Yang’s words hit Ruby like a ton of bricks. Ruby tightened her grip on her scythe again, still not willing to admit it.

“We don’t need to. I - come on, we can do this.”

Yang met her eyes to answer, but the beholder dug its jaws into her arm. She punched it off with the other, but her reply was lost to her ragged breathing.

* * *

“How the hell am I supposed to  _ hit _ this fucking thing when I can’t fucking  _ look _ at it?” Weiss muttered to herself in anger. By now, she’d deduced that whatever effect she was victim to - whatever was making this creature appear  _ massive _ and nightmarish, literally  _ forcing _ her heart to pound in fear whenever she looked at it - was magical in nature, but that didn’t make it any easier to overcome. She  _ knew _ Ruby and Yang were fighting it, and she  _ knew _ that Blake was seriously injured, and perhaps even dying. But whatever spell it had cast on her still played havoc with her aim. “Wait a minute,” she said, desperately flipping pages in her spellbook, almost threatening to tear them. She found a particular page, and smiled, despite herself.

“I don’t need to aim  _ this!” _

* * *

Ruby and Yang kept fighting - she’d glanced over at Blake, and was reassured by the fact that her black leather armor was softly rising and falling - considering that Blake was there at all, and not a pile of fine grey dust, it appeared that the beholder’s beam hadn’t killed her outright. Still, though, things were looking bad - she could tell that Yang’s energy was waning, and Weiss was still out of commission.

A high-pitched whistling filled the air, and Ruby jerked her head over to where Weiss sat on her knees. Still definitely terrified, her brow still covered in a cold sweat, but now furrowed in concentration. Weiss stuck out two fingers of her hand, lifting them up from her spellbook. Three separate darts, each made of pure, searing white force, rose up from the pages, gently spinning around each other. Weiss thrust a hand out, and one after the other, they screamed towards the beholder zombie. Each one arced and twisted, and Ruby could tell that dodging would be useless - they sought the creature out like hounds to the scent, pounding into its undead eye one after the other.

“Nice shot!” Yang shouted. In her moment of distraction, the beholder zombie picked her up in its teeth, tossing her body aside like a ragdoll. Yang briefly lifted herself up, but as she did, its yellow eye ray ran over her whole body, her muscles seizing up as she reached out for it.

Ruby took a few steps forward, but the zombie beholder whirled, and its fourth eye ray - this one black as Death itself -  _ pounded  _ into her chest.

The necrotic energy dug into her flesh, as if it were hastily dragging her towards an early demise. Ruby tightened every muscle in her body. She grimaced as the sheer force of the attack threatened to bring her to one knee.

However, upon dealing its surface-level damage, the black necrosis met resistance, dissolving as it broke against the pure, brilliant energy that dwelled just beneath the surface of her soul.

Ruby spat a thick wad of blood onto the ground, smiling despite herself.

“You idiot,” she murmured, still hugging her arms to her chest from the pain. “If you’d hit  _ anyone _ else with this one, they’d probably be dead.”

The creature, of course, did not respond - it lacked the intelligence to understand her words.

“Okay, you ugly pile of flesh,” Ruby said, straightening.  _ “Fine.” _

Ruby closed her eyes, reaching out. She winced with trepidation as the memories flooded back - the silver eyes of her mother glowing with divine radiance, infusing her sword with a brilliant fury as it pierced the orc’s skull. Her grimace of concentration as she lay waste to the approaching bandits, each one falling from one single strike. As the last creature fell, she stopped, hovering there, making sure that the battle was over.

Her brilliant white wings gently flapping to keep her aloft.

Ruby’s eyes  _ snapped _ open, her cloak billowing behind her before it transformed. Her eyes were still silver, but light  _ poured _ out from them as her radiant transformation overtook her. For the first time in seven years, Ruby’s wings unfurled, and she took flight.

Her scythe  _ burned _ with holy light as she streaked past the beholder, tearing into its flesh. The creature screamed at the divine radiance in anger, its purple ray of fear streaking towards her. Ruby simply  _ ignored _ the beam, unflinching as she made another pass. It tried paralysis - that, too, she merely flew through, her muscles not even slowing. On her third attempt, another blackened ray drove into her - Ruby took less damage this time, having prepared for the hit and mostly shrugging off the effect before it took hold, but she knew she couldn’t take much more. 

She had to finish this.

She couldn’t let anyone else die.

Weiss, having finally shaken off her magically-induced state of abject terror, rose to her feet. She hummed as a stark blue knife made of solid ice appeared from her spellbook - she then caught it out of the air by the handle, hurling it towards the beholder zombie. It landed directly in the creature’s eye, shattering into pieces that left further marks on the creature’s flesh.

The two zombies that Blake had disposed of earlier were now finally approaching, as whatever curse or spell she’d inflicted upon them must have worn off. Blake’s prone form was closest to them, and Yang was still reaching out, frozen in place, a few feet away.

Ruby’s wings flapped loudly, and she landed to stand protectively over Blake. The creature shot a green ray at her and she  _ barely _ ducked it.

“Shit,” Ruby said. The only way to protect Blake was to give those creatures a target other than her - and in order to do that, she had to stand  _ very _ close to them. The beholder zombie, though, would  _ absolutely _ kill her if she stayed in the same place for too long, and she couldn’t really damage the thing without flying right up to it.

She couldn’t be in two places at once.

“Ruby, I’ve got her!” 

Ruby’s head whipped to the side as Weiss, her spellbook floating open beside her, ran up - she closed both fists and pressed them together. When she spread them apart, she created a long and thin piece of shadow, sharper than a knife. She flipped the creation up in her hand, catching it by the handle just as it finished forming into a rapier. It looked solid, but wispy, little pieces of transparent shadow dancing off of its opaque black core.

“This is my last spell, but I can keep it up for a while,” she said. “I’ll protect Blake. Just kill that fucking thing.”

Ruby exhaled, indescribably grateful. “Weiss, I -”

“I know.” 

She took the  _ tiniest _ moment to observe Ruby’s newly-acquired fifteen-foot wingspan, her avian feathers glowing red as blood.

“And you’re going to tell me about this later.”

Ruby nodded. “Thank you.”

She leapt, the sheer power of her wingbeats making Weiss’ loose hair fly about in the wind.

“Now then,” Weiss said, staring down the tip of her shadowy blade. “Shall we begin?”

Another ray of green energy surged at Ruby, but she rolled out of the way midair. She took a breath, drawing on her reserves of stamina for a bit more energy during the fight. Another two slashes brought the beholder zombie to its very last legs, but somehow the damn thing was still holding on. 

Ruby streaked past again, missing once, missing twice - the second pass gave the creature an opportunity to dig its teeth into her flesh. Ruby cried out, growled with anger, and dug her scythe’s blade all the way into the beholder zombie’s eye, slicing apart whatever was left of its brain. Its jaws limply hung open, dropping her.

Ruby exhaled with relief, barely managing to stay in the air from the pain, but…

She’d done it. The beholder zombie was falling lifelessly down to the ground.

But then one of its eyestalks lit up.

* * *

Weiss pierced a zombie’s skull with her shadowy rapier, making it scream in agony before she withdrew. These two were slightly tougher than she’d been expecting, and while her sword was a fantastic way to get decent mileage out of a single spell, she still wasn’t  _ exactly _ amazing at swordplay. The only reason she even knew how to use the thing was because she’d conjured it herself.

She vaguely heard Ruby doing battle with the beholder zombie in the air, but she couldn’t look up to watch. A tiny, shuddering breath echoed from behind her, though, and that managed to pull her thoughts away.

“W… Weiss?” Blake rasped.

“Shut up,” she said. “Save your strength. I’ve got you.”

She grimaced as one of the zombies managed to hit her in the head with its arm, nearly making her drop her focus on the spell. It held, though, and she pierced the creature’s leg for its trouble.

“Wha… Ruby…?”

“I don’t know either,” Weiss said, ducking a zombie’s swing. It bludgeoned her in the chest with the other arm, winding her - she buried her shadow blade in its stomach all the way to the hilt, shoving the creature off with her other hand. She looked down at Blake, her face softening. “You have to survive so you can hear her explain it, okay?”

“No…” Blake coughed. “... promises.”

“Wrong answer,” Weiss said. She took another hit, but she kept up her concentration on her spell. “You  _ will _ survive this.”

The second zombie swung its arm at her, and Weiss wasn’t ready to dodge - but to her surprise, the blow glanced off of an invisible plane of force that shimmered beside her. She whirled, slashing the creature, and her eyes briefly fell upon Blake. She was holding out her necklace as it glowed, the other hand still on her chest, as she coughed up blood.

“You too,” she managed.

A blur of yellow hair appeared beside them as Yang, free from the paralysis, punched  _ through _ a zombie’s head, bones and all. She was  _ covered _ in wounds and breathing hard, but she’d managed to get to her feet. Her flaming aura was gone, though - it must take a lot of energy to maintain.

The remaining zombie lunged for Yang in a final, desperate attack, but Weiss moved faster, her rapier digging into its chest, making its head explode. The sword didn’t  _ actually _ damage a creature’s flesh, it wasn’t a real object - it attacked the mind directly, and as she’d learned from Blake, these creatures were apparently  _ just _ smart enough to still be affected that way. 

Weiss tripped, having overcommitted to the attack, and she stumbled. Her exhaustion caught up to her as her blade vanished, and she collapsed against something solid that held her upright.

“Don’t worry, Princess,” Yang murmured, gently bringing them down to rest against the wall. “I’ve got you.”

Weiss exhaled, sighing in relief. “Don’t call me Princess.”

Yang smirked. “You like it.”

Weiss rolled her eyes. “Oh, hush.”

“G-guys…” Blake said, pointing a shaky finger up towards the air in the middle of the room.

The beholder zombie was falling, Ruby’s wings haloing her like an avenging angel as she watched it descend, off to their left.

But the green eye ray was still lit up.

And it was pointed right for them.

* * *

“Shit,” Ruby murmured.

Drawing into the very bottom of her stamina reserves, Ruby forced her body to move at double speed, if just for a moment - she whirled, bringing the far end of Crescent Rose to point at the falling beholder zombie. Her finger wrapped around a tiny, hidden trigger, and she closed her eyes, holding her breath.

The world moved at a snail’s pace as she lined up the shot.

Hidden in the mechanism of her prized scythe was a secret, single-use weapon, which utilized a rather new development in the art of war. Eynn’s Town, her home, was a mining settlement, and as such, it was often raided by bandits for its precious gems and metals. A byproduct of the mines was a mysterious, explosive substance referred to as ‘black powder’ - if not dealt with and extracted carefully, it could easily cause a cave-in. However, in the past half decade or so, Ruby and her uncle Qrow had found out that the wild explosions caused by such a material  _ could _ be controlled if it was rationed out very carefully, and placed inside a chamber meant to accommodate the violent chemical reaction. At first, their experimental weapons had only spit out little bits of flame - they weren’t impressive enough to deal any real damage, but adding more black powder just made the whole apparatus explode. 

That was until Qrow had suggested that they put a little iron ball in after the black powder.

With a barely-perceptible  _ click, _ the miniature firestarter in her weapon ignited a small packet of pitch-black particles. A tiny, internal door (used to keep the iron ball in place) slid down at the same instant, offering no further resistance.

_ Boom. _

The ball  _ drilled _ through the falling zombie beholder as if it were made of paper, tearing a massive hole in its flesh where its eye used to be. Its descent rapidly accelerated as it slammed into the ground, its body rippling like a horrid, bleeding wave as the momentum pounded into the surface. 

Ruby, at the mercy of physics considering that she wasn’t anchored to anything, flew backwards with the same force, her body pounding into the ceiling.

She barely managed to stay aloft, but Ruby gently controlled her descent. Slowly, she hovered down to the ground, her wings outstretched as the balls of her feet reached the stone.

Blake was now halfway sitting up, still breathing hard. There was a _major_ gash in her stomach, but fortunately, that was all \- her organs seemed to be miraculously intact. Weiss, covered in bruises, was now resting against Yang’s chest, Yang’s massive arms wrapped protectively around her waist. The blonde warrior herself was also wounded, her tunic nearly in tatters from all of the times that the beholder zombie had bitten her, but she was definitely alive. Ruby knew that her entire body was mostly one big bruise, at this point - she could feel the series of subtle marks all up and down her arms where the necrotic energy had pulled its way into her flesh. She stood over them, the shadow of her wings softly falling onto their forms.

“So,” Weiss said, apparently content to stay in Yang’s embrace. “I have…” she briefly counted.  _ “Six _ questions.”

“I lied when I said I was human - I’m actually called an Aasimar, no that doesn’t mean part angel but I  _ was _ blessed by one, the wings will disappear again in a minute, yes they are my cloak, the weapon in my scythe is made using black powder and it takes an hour to load another shot.”

Ruby counted up. “Sorry, that’s only five - what was the sixth one?”

Weiss rolled her eyes. “Actually, you only guessed two of my questions - but that will do for now.” She smiled. “However, I think you have some stories to tell when we get back to the tavern.”

“First round’s on me,” Ruby said with a grin.

Yang nodded at her wings. “It’s good to see those again.”

Ruby sighed. “Yeah.” She leaned down to Blake, offering a hand. “You okay?”

“Well,” Blake said, sitting up a bit further. “I’m out of spells, out of my other magic, I lost one of my daggers, and it feels like somebody reached into my chest and tried to rip out my intestines.” She grinned. “I’ve been better, but I’ve been worse.”

“Good to hear,” Ruby laughed. 

“I’m out of spells, too,” Weiss said.

“I’m exhausted,” Yang agreed. “I mean… I  _ could _ fight again, if we needed, but I can’t make any more fire.”

“What happened to  _ you?” _ Blake asked of Ruby, looking at her pockmarked arms.

“One of its beams was like a necrosis or something,” she said. “Like that spell you cast on it. I’m glad I can resist that kind of energy, because otherwise I’d probably be dead.”

“Huh,” Blake said with a nod. “That’s lucky.”

“No kidding,” she laughed. Blake grimaced, making Ruby tense up with concern. “Does anybody have any bandages? I used my healing already.”

“In my pack,” Yang said, pointing to where she’d dropped it before charging at the minotaur skeleton. They’d all genuinely forgotten about its corpse, the massive pile of bones a bit off to the side of the now-dead beholder zombie, which was in about the center of the room.

Ruby quietly flew over, grabbing the bag, and flew most of the way back before her wings disappeared. She reached out and grabbed one by the tip with her hand, then tossed it over her shoulder as it transformed back into her long red cloak.

She knelt down before Blake, starting to bandage up her chest. Blake almost immediately took over the moment that she noticed Ruby’s general incompetence with it, making her nervously laugh.

“You two enjoying your cuddle session?” Blake asked, wincing as she wrapped the roll around her torso.

“Oh, I’d  _ love _ to stand up right now, but I’m not certain that I can,” Weiss said.

“Same,” Blake admitted.

“Yup,” Yang agreed.

“I think I  _ can _ still walk for a bit, but that’s only because I was flying through most of that at the end,” Ruby said.

“Cheater,” Yang said.

“Shut up,” Ruby chuckled. “How’re your bandages, Blake?”

“I think I’m -” she winced, tying one off “- good, for now.” She met Ruby’s eyes. “Thanks.”

“Yes,” Weiss said, sincere. “You… you protected us. All of us.”

Ruby gave her a solemn nod. “That’s what I do.”

Yang met her eyes, her lilacs filled with soft concern. Ruby looked away - now was not the time for  _ that _ argument. She looked down at the space between Yang and Blake, then met Blake’s eyes. “Can I sit?”

Blake gestured to the dirty, dust-coated ground, and the not insignificant amount of spattered blood that had leaked there from the wounds of two bleeding people. “Be my guest.”

“Pass those bandages, Ruby?” Yang asked. Blake wordlessly handed them over, and Ruby offered them out.

“Here, let me do it,” Weiss said, snatching them from Ruby’s hand. “You won’t be able to bandage your arm by yourself.

“Fine,” Yang said with a smile.

Cautiously, Blake leaned her head into Ruby’s shoulder, the physical contact allowing Ruby to feel the flightiness of her breaths, the nervousness in her posture as she was uncertain about making the move. Her voice betrayed none of it, though, as she coolly said, “They seem to be getting along, huh?”

“It’s better than when they were constantly sniping at each other,” Ruby said, wrapping her arm around Blake’s shoulders. She paused in surprise for a brief moment, but then she leaned back in, purring softly. Ruby smiled, resting her cheek on the top of Blake’s head. She was careful not to crush her ears.

“You two say that as if you aren’t doing the  _ exact _ same thing,” Weiss chided.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Blake said. “Ruby and I are just trauma bonding.  _ You two _ have so much sexual tension between you that I could cut it with one of my many knives.”

Weiss’ face went whiter than her hair, and Yang  _ immediately _ burst into laughter. “She’s got you there, Princess!”

“I - that’s - you -”

“If you’re gonna have sex with my sister tonight, at least do it wherever  _ you’re _ staying,” Ruby said. “We’re sharing a room at the inn and I do wanna actually sleep.”

“I have a house in town,” Blake offered. “You can sleep  _ there _ tonight, if you like.”

Yang let out a wolf whistle. “Get it, Rubes!”

Weiss sighed, tossing the roll of bandages to the ground. “You’re all children.”

Yang raised an eyebrow. “Oh, what, did you want to sleep  _ alone  _ tonight?”

Weiss crossed her arms, looking away as she leaned back into Yang. Her face reddened. 

“Well, I didn’t say  _ that.” _

* * *

They spent an hour there, in that chamber.

Ruby finally stood, offering Blake a hand. Yang did the same for Weiss, and finally they made their way to the still-open vault door, leaning on each other in pairs.

“So… what do we think’s inside?” Ruby said. “Cursed artifact? Just a big pile of gold?”

“I dunno, but I still can’t see shit,” Yang said. 

Ruby borrowed a dagger from Blake’s belt, infusing it with light.

“Thanks.”

The chamber was smaller than she’d been expecting - the door covered a space that was slightly smaller than it was, and not very deep.

It was also completely empty.

“Well that’s…  _ annoying.” _ Weiss managed.

“Yeah,” Yang said. “You’d think an old thieves’ guild would have a bit more gold lying around.”

“Well, the guild still  _ exists _ \- they probably just moved it all,” Blake said.

“And we’ve still got that fifty gold that Caleb promised us,” Ruby said.

Weiss snorted. “Somehow, that doesn’t feel like it’s worth it anymore.”

“Yeah, but we still might as well claim it,” Yang said.

“Oh, trust me,” Weiss said. “I intend to.”

Their little group filed out of the vault, not bothering to close the door behind them.

  
  


“Hey, Blake?” Ruby asked. It was now just the two of them - taking the ladder had been the very end of Weiss’ stamina, and Yang had princess carried her back up to their room at the inn. She figured that Yang would let her sleep in Ruby’s bed, taking her own for the night. Despite their previous bluster and joking, they all  _ knew _ that there was no chance of anything actually happening between either pair that evening - they were all dead tired and wounded. Ruby had only really accepted Blake’s offer to stay at her home because there was nowhere else to sleep, and they were probably the only ones with enough stamina left over to actually make the walk across the town.

But there was still something on her mind.

“What is it?”

“When… when we were all talking, once we got down to that middle level,” Ruby began. “And Weiss was being all suspicious and stuff…”

Blake just nodded as they walked, encouraging her to continue.

“You… you said that once we had the gold, you’d be long gone.”

“I did.”

“Did you mean that?”

She stopped walking for a moment, looking off into the distance somewhere.

“... I dunno yet.”

She kept walking, and Ruby had to take a few long strides to keep up with her.

Softly, Ruby asked, “... should I go?”

“Do you have somewhere else to sleep tonight?”

She let out a small laugh. “No.”

“Well, you saved my life this afternoon, so the least I can do is offer you a bed.”

The rest of their walk was completed in silence. Ruby found that there was a lot on her mind.

“This is my place,” Blake said, taking Ruby up a series of wooden walkways - it was just scaffolding, really - until it finally led to a third-floor building. Blake dug out a key and spent a while unlocking at least three separate locks before the door swung open.

Inside was a simple, single-chambered room, bare essentials only: kitchen, bed, table, water closet.

“Sorry, I know it’s not much,” Blake said.

“I don’t mind,” Ruby said. She walked over to the table, pulling out a chair. “Can I sit here?” 

“Go ahead.” Blake rummaged around in her cupboards before she found a semblance of a meal - mostly bread, though it hadn’t gone stale or anything, and any amount of food made Ruby grateful.

“So,” Blake said. “You speak Celestial.”

“Yeah.” Ruby shrugged, taking a bite. “It’s, uh… an Aasimar thing, I guess. Once I was old enough to read and write Common, Celestial just felt… the same. Y’know?”

Blake shook her head. “I can’t say that I do, no.”

Ruby shrugged one shoulder. “That’s… yeah, that’s fair. What about you?”

Blake curled in on herself a bit, sitting cross-legged in her chair. Her tail nervously flicked back and forth. “I… I don’t actually  _ speak _ Celestial, it’s kinda just… what comes out of my mouth when I cast spells.”

Ruby raised an eyebrow. “That’s weird - I don’t understand what Weiss is saying when she casts spells. Do you guys have different ways of doing magic?”

Blake let out a tiny little laugh. “You could say that.”

Ruby’s brow remained raised, prompting an explanation. Blake sighed.

“From what I can tell, Weiss got her magic by study - remember how she said she practiced it for a long time?”

“Oh, yeah,” Ruby said. “But you…?”

Blake shook her head. “I didn’t ‘learn’ magic - it was given to me.”

“By who?”

Blake fished into the neckline of her armor, pulling out her silver chain again. This time, Ruby got a better look at the pendant - it was a rather intricate charm, with what looked like four crossed bones in an eight-pointed star, all silhouetting the vague outline of a skull, meeting in the middle of it.

“Do you worship any gods?”

Ruby laughed. “Kinda. I don’t worship, but I try to be respectful about it. Hard not to at least believe in them, when you’ve been  _ literally _ blessed by an angel.”

This time, Blake raised an eyebrow. 

“It’s… it’s how people like me are made,” Ruby said softly. “My parents were human - at least, my dad was. This whole thing, it’s not because my parents were like this, I guess I was… I dunno. Chosen.”

“For what?” Blake asked.

Ruby shrugged. “I dunno. Nobody’s told me yet.”

“What do you mean?”

“I think I’m supposed to hear from an angel, and they’ll tell me to like… I dunno. Go save a town, or whatever. That’s how this worked for my mom, but… I’ve never heard anything.”

“Wait, I thought you said that your parents…”

Ruby held up a hand to stop her. “From what my mom told me, the kind of beings that we are isn’t a thing that’s inherited, we’re just…  _ chosen. _ She was chosen for a reason, and so was I - but it’s not like  _ my _ kids will be running around with red angel wings, in all likelihood. My grandparents on her side were human, too.”

“That sounds… rare,” Blake finally said. Ruby nodded.

“Besides my mom… I’ve never met anyone like me.”

Blake chuckled, letting her jet-black tail flick back and forth, the tip just barely visible over the table. “Welcome to the club.”

They laughed for a little while, taking silent bites of their food.

“So… you asked me about the gods.”

“I did.”

“You worship one, don’t you?”

Blake nodded, holding up her pendant again. “The Traveler. They’re a patron of chaos, deception, transformation…”

_ “‘The Sovereign of Chaos and Change,’” _ Ruby quoted, from her exorcism earlier that day. “Right?”

“Yup.”

“What’re they like?”

Blake laughed. “I can’t say. I don’t think I’m high enough up the ladder for them to talk to me directly.”

“Welcome to the club,” Ruby said, smiling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading!  
> It was quite a longer chapter this time, because I had a lot to cover. If anyone's wondering about how realistic it is for a level 3 party of four to kill a beholder zombie without full resources, the main notes that I'll make is that all zombies are very stupid, this party has a Cleric and therefore a Turn Undead, and also they basically overwhelmed the thing in terms of sheer action economy. Beholder zombies can *either* make a bite attack or shoot a random eye ray and that's their turn. Three of its four rays have a chance of doing literally nothing, and its bite attack is very mediocre for the obvious reason that its disintegration ray is extremely dangerous. It went for bite attacks pretty often, because there was a barbarian in its face, and that severely handicapped its potential to do... well... anything. Plus, as alluded, Ruby just so happens to resist necrotic damage, and that's probably the thing's best chance of doing reliable damage, so... there's also that.  
> Basically, TL;DR these four happened to be *very* well-suited for a fight like this, so they did far better than another group of their numbers and relative power level would do, something that I (as the phantom DM for this not-actual campaign) would know. I like throwing monsters that are challenging but weak to the party at them early on to make them feel powerful.
> 
> So yeah! Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you enjoyed! Let me know your thoughts (or questions, D&D or otherwise) down below!
> 
> -R


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